Winter Will Come
by DomesticatedWerewolves
Summary: With Alucard back, the Hellsing Organization travels to America on suspicions of a vampire outbreak. Working with the witches of the Salem Institute, they realize just how widespread vampirism has become.
1. Becoming a Sponge

Kana: Massive amounts of fanfiction are created using daydreams. My daydreams are weird then. I've no idea if this has been done before, but oh well. I'LL PULL SHIT OUT OF MY ASS AND YOU'LL LIKE IT :D cause you're all weird for liking my writing style. Seriously, I blow. Why are you here again? Right, I should shut up now.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Hellsing. I do own this particular plot, and this glass of cranberry juice.

**Summary:** With Alucard back, the Hellsing Organization travels to America on suspicions of a vampire outbreak. Working with the witches of the Salem Institute, they realize just how widespread vampirism has become.

**Warnings: ** Language, violence, gore, everything else you get in a Hellsing manga/OVA. Ideologically sensitive material, which you also get in the manga and OVA (in the form of NAZIS. Only there are no Nazis here ;A;). Please don't bitch about the witches. There ARE OCs in this fic, some important, some not, but it is a Hellsing-canon-character-centric story. For those without knowledge of the last few chapters of Hellsing, THIS IS A **SPOILER**. Now STOP PMING ME, DOUCHES. IT'S FREAKING **BOLDED**. Kthxbai.

**Notes on the Holy Scripture: **yes, it is set post-manga. That means the following; its sometime in the 2030's. I'm not good with futuristic stories, plus I seriously doubt we'll be living in an Asimov story in twenty years, so meh. Anyway, I really dislike the ending of the manga, but it is a _perfect_ timeslot for this story. I'm sorry to all who feel it was like fanservice (such as myself and a friend), but it's a necessity, like killing someone on a deserted island for food. Only this isn't chewy.

WALL 'o TEXT. BIG NOTES EQUALS COMPLICATED STORY. BIG TEXT IS BIG.

Let's begin, BEETCHES.

EDIT: Apparently FF. Net doesn't like my page breaks. FFFF

xxx

**Winter Will Come**

**Prologue: Becoming a Sponge**

xxx

Alucard hated it when humans pointed guns at him. It was like the ant trying to knife the person who was about to step on it.

Staring down the barrel of an ordinary state issued handgun, which would be as affective against him as trying to take on a tank with a ball peen hammer, Alucard growled at the airport security officer. Clutching her carryon a little tighter, Seras watched with interest and a little fear – but not for her master. It was as if Alucard _wanted_ them to find his gun, as he usually hid it to the point where searching for it would drive a human mad.

Though it _was_ her master's fault. In Britain they had been able to get on the plane with weapons unscathed, because their Organization was well known (though no one really knew what they did). But in America, Hellsing was not a commonplace name. In fact, no one recognized their patches or shields in security, so they were searched, starting with Alucard. And upon finding the _Casull _(two point oh) hidden underneath his coat, the two officers aimed their weapons at him and told him to put his hands on his head.

Like Alucard would do anything of the sort. He just gave the officers a deadpan stare over the top of his glasses. "No, I won't," he said, crossing his arms instead of putting them on his head. "I have the King of England's permission to carry a firearm wherever I go." Alucard had been disappointed to hear of the Queen's death, mere months after the siege of London, but the new King had been happy to give him his permission. It was a formality, but somehow important to the old vampire.

"That means nothing," the female said, still pushing her gun into his face. "Hands on your head and get on the ground."

Growing bored of their antics and impatient at the worst times, Alucard's hand twitched, a sure sign he was going to reach for the _Casull_. Seras closed her eyes, straining her ears for the sound of gunshots and death. _That's the problem these days; Millennium is forgotten and no one really cares,_ she thought_. If they knew about vampires, we would be more important than the Minister. _

"Stop this insanity right now," said a stern, feminine voice.

Seras cracked open an eye, afraid that she would see some professional holding a gun with silver bullets to her master's head. That was her worst fear, for they didn't know if Alucard was easily killed without his souls. And no one wanted to accept Iscariot's offer to find out.

Instead of the reincarnation of Alexander Anderson diving at Alucard, Seras saw a short woman standing before airport security, in front of her master so that the barrel of the gun was brushing her forehead. She barely came up to Alucard's chest, but she had the same kind of glare – the kind that could make the weakest of cowards drop dead of a coronary, or make federal marshals wet themselves. Dressed in a navy blue jumper a size too big for her and faded jeans, with her wavy, mousy brown hair pulled back from her face with a little clip, she looked ready to take on the world.

And just below her left shoulder was a black armband, and indecipherable symbol embroidered into it in silver thread. The security officers looked at it suspiciously, their guns still cocked, one at her and the other at Alucard, who found this so amusing that he was grinning like a lunatic.

"And who are you?" the male said, a moustache of sweat forming on his upper lip.

"I am the person who has a letter from the president," the woman said, a smirk on her face. It was cruel, contrasting with the triumphant light in her strange ice blue eyes. Looking at those eyes made Seras shiver, as they were not wholly human.

The officers received and opened a crisp, pure white envelope given to them by the woman. As they read it together – one over the other's shoulder – they slowly paled, and Seras wondered if they might cry.

The male's lips moved, and Seras heard his voice say 'you pointed a gun at a national ambassador'. The image of Alucard as any kind of diplomatic representative was a tad ridiculous, if impossible.

Murmuring apologies and even offering to carry their bags, the security officers let them pass. The offers were useless. Seras only had one bag and Alucard found most material possessions useless. He only traveled with his guns and his coffin, which was being shipped with hers to their destination. Instead the two vampires followed the woman out of security, where fewer people stared at them.

"May I ask who you are?" Alucard purred to the woman who had almost taken a bullet to the head for him. He didn't care about that, but he had the curiosity of a five year old.

The woman turned to them, her head craned far back to look at Alucard. She was nearly a foot shorter than him, but her entire demeanor was wraslin' with him. "My name is Morgan Bristritz," she said, "and I am the Secretary of State for the Salem Institute."

In the silence that came after that, Seras could hear an elderly man humming. '_Ta-ra-ra-BOOM-de-ay'_ he muttered.

"My master must be growing senile," Alucard said, his face suddenly set in a scowl. "She never mentioned anything about working with a _vrăjitoare_." The last word was spat, a jumbled combination of vowels that was more accent than speech.

Before leaving London, Sir Integra had informed them about their mission – the largest they had had in years. They were to travel to America and help out the Salem Institute, a sort of subdivision of the Hellsing Organization. Many of them had popped up in the decades of Alucard's absence, with their leaders being qualified soldiers of Hellsing or sons and daughters of the Convention of Twelve. With the appointment of England's new King, almost every large country had one, with the most publicly known being Hellsing in London and the Carpathian Institute in Romania.

But the Salem Institute, North America's only anti-median organization, located in Boston, Massachusetts, was a completely different story. It was formed by witches, another type of magical humanoid, like vampires and werewolves, only vastly different. Instead of just _running_ on magic, like vampires (for there _was_ a touch of magic in them, keeping them 'alive'), or being _infected_ by magic, like werewolves, witches _lived_ on magic. Using in gave them a satisfied feeling, the kind that eating or sleeping gave normal people, only much more intense, like a vampire feeding. That was how you could tell you were destined to be a witch; casting a spell made you feel as if the world revolved around you. When ordinary humans tried to utilize magic, they either went clinically insane or dropped dead right on the spot.

A telltale sign of a witch was their blue eyes, just like Morgan's. The colder the better, and hers looked like they were made of arctic water.

"I take it you were taught to hate my kind as a little barbarian child," Morgan said frostily. "Evil witches who turned bad princes into rats. I can assure you, I have never turned someone into a rat. But I could start with you."

Alucard's scowl deepened at being called a barbarian, an old wound with him. "Prove it then. Where is your familiar?"

Morgan looked at him. "I will show you, but not here. There is a town car waiting for us outside to bring us to Allston." She looked away and continued to walk, shoving past passersby without caring who they were. Once she nearly stepped on a child, narrowly missing it. Her eyes were trained on the next exit.

While Seras wondered what _Allston _was, Alucard marched forward, stepping _over_ the same child Morgan nearly stepped _on_. He grumbled under his breath, more human than usual (when in a 'human' mood, Alucard had a tendency to have a shorter fuse). Putting a little effort into her step, she caught up with Morgan.

"Forgive him," she said, "but believe it or not, you'll prefer him this way."

Morgan's eyes softened slightly. "Who are you? I was expecting only that great red sponge."

Happy that Morgan was friendlier than she appeared, Seras's mood lightened. "I'm his fledgling. Seras Victoria."

"Oh, I've heard of you," Morgan murmured, as if to herself. She was silent after that.

Seras fell back to her master, disappointed that her conversation with Morgan had reached such a short end. "Are all witches like her?"

"Unsmiling, blunt, annoying, and erratic?" Alucard asked, still frowning, but in a thoughtful way. "Every single one of them."

"I heard that, you giant leech!" Morgan spat over her shoulder, making more people stare.

Alucard's frown turned back into a full-blown scowl.

xxx

Kana: NUUU. RIP my first Xbox 360. I paid an extra hundred dollars for the elite and it STILL got the Red Ring of Death. STILL. Ah well; Microsoft is repairing it for me. BUT WHAT WILL I DO UNTIL IT GETS BACK? I can't play Darksiders or ANY of the Assassin's Creed games, or Bayonetta or or or THIS LACK OF ALTAIR/WAR/ENZIO WILL KILL ME. I can feel it SUCKING AT ME. I have NO homework and I CAN'T KICK THE VIRTUAL SHIT OUT OF ANYTHING.

Okay, I feel better. Now I have an excuse not to go out and blow all my gas money on that Final Fantasy XIII game that I feel the compulsion to buy just because I have never played on before.

Let's all admit that there's some kind of magic that allowed vampires to defy the laws of _everything_. Don't give me bull about blood circulation and voodoo ceremonies preformed by Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise in the middle of the night; we all know Alucard leaks faerie dust like Tinker Bell.

Next Chapter: Alucard plus dorm life equals hilarity. Check it out. This chapter was mostly author's notes and me bitching, but NEXT chapter there will be asskicking. I think. It might be the chapter after that that contains the asskicking.

Review cause you're enjoying the image of Alucard as Tinker Bell.


	2. Vampires Don't Eat Chicken Wings

Kana: You know, I've seen How to Train Your Dragon twice (and raved about it twice in a row) and both times there were random children screaming at various points in the movie, and I still loved it. Even the fact that it was so different from the books didn't faze me.

I'm such a dork. Physically seventeen; mentally seven. :D

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Hellsing. I do own a nail bat. RAWR NAIL BAT.

xxx

**Winter Will Come**

**Chapter One: Vampires Don't Eat Chicken Wings**

xxx

Seras was amazed that so many buildings could fit in such a little city. It seemed as if a hundred people were crammed into each block, flooding the sidewalks, each with their own personal outlook on life. The streets were almost as tight as in London, but they seemed even more so due to the large cars and trucks that American's drove. How anyone could park in this city, she did not know.

Meanwhile, Alucard had stopped being human and started acting more like himself. He watched the people going by the town car thoughtfully, his eyes rapidly moving. He was probably scoping out the alley in which he would feed.

It was dusk, and Seras marveled at the colors. The lights that flickered on the buildings were white, red, green, blue, especially as they went farther and farther into Allston, which – as Morgan explain to them – was one of twenty-one neighborhoods in the city. It was mainly inhabited by college students, as it had nine universities. It also housed the Salem building, which was squeezed between two Harvard dormitories.

"How do you fit the entire Institute in one little block?" Seras asked. She was seated between the middle of her master (on the right) and Morgan (on the left) in the backseat of the town car.

"Magic," Morgan said simply, shifting her crossed legs. "We picked the place because it was not easily found, and our younger employees are able to live on campus and still be close by."

Alucard looked away from the window. "You still haven't shown me your familiar," he said, and Seras could almost hear him saying 'I'll show you mine if you show me yours.' Luckily he had no familiars, save for a little catboy who was never let out.

Morgan blinked, as if just realizing that they were actually _alone_, save for the driver, who was also a witch. His familiar was a small European hedgehog, which sat in the cup holder next to him.

"I guess I've been around people too long," Morgan mumbled, a habit of hers when she was thinking aloud. She cupped her hands together, like a child holding a captured toad, and blew into them. When they opened, a colorful peach-faced lovebird stood in her hands, twittering happily. "Forgive me, Eggshell."

"Eggshell?" Alucard asked, a hint of mockery in his voice. He looked at the lovebird over his glasses, and the little parrot cheeped angrily at him.

"She likes eggshells, even though they aren't good for her," Morgan said distantly. She leaned close to the bird, letting it run its beak over her face.

As bird and witch reacquainted themselves with each other, Seras asked, "I thought witches only had cats as familiars?"

"And I thought the English were very polite," Morgan said, looking at her. "But your master blew that all to hell." She put Eggshell on her shoulder, where the bird got busy pulling her brown hair out of the clip that held it back. "But I see where you get this from. Our familiars, like yours, come from the dead, except we don't kill them ourselves. Mostly they are animals, but sometimes they are humans. They are chosen randomly and appear the first time we complete a spell."

"Oh," Seras said, staring at her knees. Both Morgan and Alucard went back to staring out their respective windows, leaving the little Draculina feeling squished and neglected.

xxx

On both sides of the Salem Institute building was a tall dormitory, with almost half the windows open despite the fact that it was nighttime and the middle of September. Seras looked into them with interest, her vampiric eyesight seeing that some of the students employed strings of decorative lights for lighting. One even had glowing chili peppers hanging over their bed.

"University students are strange," she told her master.

"Get used to it," Alucard said, his expression unreadable. "We're going to be living with them."

"Huh?" Seras's blood spiked, flowing through her veins twice as fast as usual. "How do you know this?"

"Because I relayed it to Sir Hellsing over the phone before you came," Morgan said, Eggshell sleeping in her palm, its head in the crook of her neck. "As we all have our own apartments and no rooms available in the Salem building, we're having you pretend to be students in the dormitory on the right. You won't go to classes obviously, and you'll have singular rooms and coffins, but you'll be under the protection of our agents still in school." Alucard scoffed as if this concept was the most ridiculous thing on the face of the earth.

As Alucard glared at the witch and her birdie, Seras asked, "I can see how _I_ will blend in, but how will master? He does not look of college age." She fumbled for a moment, wondering how her yellow uniform was going to look in a dorm.

"We're going to improvise," Morgan said as the town car came to a stop. "Thanks, Jackson." Snapping her fingers, she produced a ten dollar bill in her hand, which she gave to the driver. He grinned at her and tucked the bill in his pocket. "Could you stand outside the dorm and conceal their coffins when they come?"

"Anything for the Institute, Miss Morgan," the driver said, his accent thick. _Moahgahn_, he said. Miss _Moahgahn_.

As they got out, Seras couldn't help but grin. She was off on a mission with her master for the first time in decades, in a nice city. And the moon was even full, bordered by the colorful city lights and the stars. She had never been to America before (once to South America, and she never wanted to go again) and this was her chance to be human.

In the time it took for him to climb out of the car, Alucard had changed his age and features. He was a few inches shorter, but his hair had gotten slightly longer and was pulled back in a loose tail. He had two golden hoops in the cartilage of his right ear, and a crisp new black oxford shirt. A thick ring was on his left hand, and when he caught her staring at him and stuck out his tongue, she saw a little red gem at its tip.

Seras started to laugh. "Where did that look come from?" she asked Alucard.

Alucard had already developed a habit of tapping the red tongue piercing against a fang. "I saw some human at the airport who looked like this. He also wore black eye makeup, but I had to draw the line somewhere."

When Morgan slid out of the car, Eggshell alert on her shoulder after its little nap, she frowned at Alucard, the only expression she seemed to know. "Your pants…" she said simply.

They all looked down, realizing that Alucard hadn't changed his pants and that the hem flooded around his ankles. "Whups," Alucard chuckled, not even caring as they followed Morgan into the dormitory that they were going to stay in. He was grinning manically, excited at the prospect of being around humans – though not in the way Seras was.

"You're right," Morgan whispered to Seras, Eggshell peering at her curiously. "I liked him better when he sulked." She watched as Alucard fixed the length of his pants mid-stride. "Though I will give him this – he has an amazing shape shifting ability. Do all vampires find such a thing that easy?"

Seras clutched her left arm unconsciously. It was soft, malleable, and not entirely apart of her. Made of shadows, it was a remnant of the short-lived third world war, and it was the second biggest change to her that had come from the war. The first was her only familiar, Pip, who hadn't been heard from or seen in quite some time.

"It's in the blood," she said quietly, following them inside.

xxx

The next ten minutes went by in a rush for Seras. Morgan spoke to the advisors in the building and showed them to their rooms with the promise that her assistant would be there in the afternoon (to ensure that they got _some_ sleep) to take them to the President of the Salem Institute. Once there, their mission would finally start with a briefing. At least, that was the usual routine when they were in foreign countries. With these witches, anything was possible, and Seras was hoping for a little explanation on their familiars and power.

Her dorm was a small singular room, with a bed on the left and some shelves hanging over it. There was a broad window opposite the door, with a nice polished desk and chair in front of it. The right wall had only a corkboard on it, and the floors were made of dull hardwood.

"This is quaint," Seras said aloud, putting her carryon on the bed, which did not have sheets or blankets. She supposed the students supplied them themselves. Luckily she would not need the bed when her coffin came later that evening.

Sitting on her bed, Seras wondered how her master was doing.

xxx

Just as his fledgling was thinking that, Alucard was bored. He had already searched his entire room for something interesting, his list beginning with some kind of living vermin that he could eat. But there was nothing, so he considered going to Seras and stealing some blood, which she carried in her carryon in twelve thermoses. Why security stopped him for his gun and ignored the fact that she carried over the three ounce limit of liquid was beyond Alucard (_this_ rule he remembered).

When he had almost made up his mind to float through the wall to get a thermos (as Seras's room was to the right of his) there was a knock on his door. Fiddling with the new piercings in his ear, Alucard opened the door and was met with the strangest man he had ever seen.

"Are you frightened?" Alucard asked the young man, whose hair stuck straight up in an inch-high, lime green fin.

The man quirked an eyebrow at him. "Um…no?"

"Then why is your hair like that?" His head cocked to the side, Alucard looked so out of character that Integra would have had a heart attack.

"It's a _Mohawk_, dude," the young man said, now grinning. "Where have you been for the last thirty years?"

Astonished that this young man knew that he had been gone for the last few decades, Alucard did a double take. "In purgatory. How did you know?"

This caused the man to laugh. "I like the cynicism. It's good to know that not all Brits are prudes."

"You have obviously never met Int – a friend of mine," Alucard said under his breath. He was eyeing the throbbing vein in the boy's throat, the scent of blood making his nostrils flare. Knowing that Integra would never allow it, Alucard kept himself talking to take his mind off the alluring smell. He vaguely remembered that it was custom to greet someone with an exchange of names, so Alucard said, "I'm…Vlad. And you?"

"Logan," the young man said happily. "That's a strange name for an Englishman."

"I'm a strange Englishman," Alucard answered with a smirk. "Is there any particular reason you knocked on my door?"

Unconsciously running his hand along the bristly sides of his head, Logan said, "I'm the RA for this floor, and I was wondering if you or your…who was that girl that transferred with you?"

Alucard almost – _almost_ – said fledgling. Then he nearly said daughter. It took him a split second to run through the list of human titles in his mind: girlfriend, wife, bride, bitch. Finally he settled on, "She's my sister," and hoped to dear god that Integra never found or, or he would never hear the end of it.

"Really?" Logan shrugged, obviously swallowing the words 'she looks nothing like you' and continued. "Anyway, some friends of mine are going down to the pizzeria on the corner and we were wondering of you guys were hungry."

_Desperately_, Alucard thought, feeling thick saliva coat his teeth, which were rapidly sharpening. He used his tongue to get rid it, feeling the gem scratch against his fangs. He tried to keep them square, but his canines continued to lengthen.

But Integra would want him to blend in, and humans ate dinner around this time. "We would be happy to," Alucard ground out, thinking of nothing more than the thermoses in Seras's bag. "Let me go get her. We'll meet to down in the lobby."

Once Logan had rounded the corner in the hall, his 'friends' a girl with black-tipped blond hair and another young man, Alucard streaked towards Seras's door and, after scanning the area for any humans, floated through it.

"Hello master," Seras said, sitting cross-legged on her bed. She didn't seem unnerved when he dove for her carryon, but she did protest a little when he ripped it open. "You could have just asked."

Alucard glared at her from the corner of his eye as he chugged two thermoses of blood in rapid succession. "We're being invited to go eat with the humans on this floor," he said, letting out a crisp belch that he stifled with his hand. Seras realized that this was the first time she had seen him without any gloves, and that his fingers were not has tapered as she imagined them. But then she figured he still had them on, and had covered them with glamour.

Seras frowned a little at her master's habits. Though he didn't need them anymore, Alucard had kept his gloves, and hadn't taken them off once. Perhaps he was deepening that well of whimsy that had began with her, or perhaps he was going a little bit madder.

Quick thinking kept an open thermos of blood from spilling on the floor when Alucard tossed one her way while she was still deep in thought. "What's this for?" Seras asked.

"Drink," the order was sharp, but Seras was used to that from her master. She sipped at the blood politely. "We're going to eat pizza, and if you don't have blood in your stomach you're going to vomit it back up instantly."

"Um…why?" Seras tucked the thermos back into her carryon when Alucard's back was to her. She had drank some on the plane, and was full for now.

"Because our stomachs can't handle -."

"No, why do we _need_ to eat it?"

Alucard started tapping the tongue piercing against his teeth again. _Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap._ "We're blending in, so steel yourself. American's are strange."

_Says Dracula,_ Seras thought, keeping her mind securely locked against her master's intrusions.

xxx

Alucard found that he did not like pizza. For one thing, it was served in a cramped little restaurant where parties of five were expected to sit at small booths with worn red seats and round containers of parmesan cheese that was sealed in one big crumbly lump. Alucard hated sitting at booths anyway (they hindered him if he had to kill someone) so he pulled up a small uncomfortable chair with a round red seat.

And when the food came – in an astonishing two minutes – he and Seras had to force down one slice each. And the slices were huge, with the cheese burnt near the edges and grease dripping off it. To a human it would have tasted heavenly – to a vampire, who thrived off raw blood, it tasted like ass.

But he had to admit, they were getting along fine with Logan and his friends. Seras twittered happily with the female, answering questions about him and their 'home' in England. She had also taken to referring to Integra as their mother, and Morgan as a 'distant aunt' to cover up why she signed for their dorms. Alucard found both amusing, even as he exchanged trivial conversation with Logan, all the while eyeing the veins in both his and his female friend's neck.

"So," Logan's other friend, a young man began, "why did you guys decide to come to the States?"

Fighting back a smirk, for he had already anticipated this, Alucard said, "Our mother wanted us to go abroad so that we could intern in our aunt's company."

"You mean that place next door?" the girl said, her ridiculously blue eyelids wide open. "The one with all the animals and shit? You know what it does?"

"Not exactly," Seras laughed softly, thickly swallowing the last bite of crust. She felt horribly sick, but instead of coming back up, the pizza slice had glued itself to the sides of her gullet, making her feel heavy. "But that's what we're here for."

After five more minutes of meaningless talk – in Alucard's opinion, there were far more interesting topics than subject majors or pulp fiction, which was what these college students seemed to enjoy talking about – the other male friend asked a question.

"How come you guys aren't eating?" he asked, ripping off a hunk of pizza.

Alucard could feel the food in his belly, not digesting or breaking down, just feeling like a large stone. Another wad of it was caught in his throat, like when you ate a large mouthful of food without taking a drink, and it threatened to come back up into his mouth. If that happened, he knew he would vomit. "We don't eat much." He gulped down a large mouthful of the disgusting brown fizzy drink that he had been given, to try and dislodge the food.

"Hmmn, weird," Logan swallowed a mouthful of pizza. "You're probably just not used to getting your daily amount of calories in a single bite. Americans eat to bring themselves one step closer to a massive coronary."

They all shared a short laugh, with the two vampires' chuckles fake in their own personal ways. "Since Logan's showing off his pre-med vocab," the female said, "what are you guys majoring in?"

Now it was Seras's turn to answer. She had been nineteen when turned, and sometimes pamphlets for college courses had been in her mail. She had enjoyed flipping through them, thinking about criminal law and all that fun stuff.

"I'm majoring in pre-law and my brother's in…" Seras then said something off the top of her head that, when relayed back to Integra, would send the woman into laughing fits at random, "primary education…"

While Alucard pondered about the prospect of being in charge of a roomful of healthy, delicious children, the male friend suddenly got up and muttered to the man at the counter about something. Money was exchanged and he came back with a dish of lumpy orangey things.

"Let's splurge to celebrate our new floor-mates," he said as he climbed like a monkey over a few seats to get back to the inside of the booth. "Chicken wings."

The other two humans made sounds of pleasure as the plate was set down on top of the greasy remains of the pizza, and they all grabbed one or two. Alucard was just trying to figure out what kind of disease the chicken had had to make its skin look so disgusting when he was offered one.

"Hell no," he said instantly. Seras was staring at the lone wing on her plate as if it was going to come alive and eat her from the inside if she so much as licked it.

"Why not, dude?" Logan's female friend said passed a mouthful of fried skin and slippery meat. She was using her tongue to get at the meat between the bird's humerous and radius. "They taste good."

"Come on, you can spit it out if you want to," Logan insisted. "This place makes the best chicken wings."

Seras found herself peeling the skin off the wing and piling it on her plate. The meat underneath it looked a little better, but for some reason it was shiny. Some kind of sauce had rubbed off on her fingers, so she licked them clean.

It was spicy, and since even her sense of _taste_ was enhanced Seras started whimpering in pain, holding her mouth as tears sprang to her eyes.

"Master!" she hissed under her breath, "Master, they're ho –"

Alucard had eaten his chicken wing and was chewing on the bone, searching for marrow. The college students were watching him in horror, and Seras was wondering if they had blown their cover when they dissolved into laughter.

"I told you he was funny!" Logan cried, shrieking with laughter that echoed in the empty pizzeria.

xxx

Kana: HUUUU. I love parrots. Especially lovebirds, because they're cute. But they're so hard to care for D:

Alucard's new appearance is inspired by every brilliant misunderstood college student EVAR. Affinity for black and a tongue piercing. But only a tongue one, cause everything else is just icky. And yes, when I am a college student I will have chili pepper lighting. Or bat lighting. YES.

Review Responses:

Archer8: A sequel? To what? Surely not Lemonade, though it would be nice to do a sequel to that. And I don't do A/S, mostly because its…creepy. But whatever floats your boat.

BigKwell: Thanks :3

Thess: Really? _Really?_ Well thanks! :D And let's call that slip of 'master' just a memory lapse (mostly mine). It actually clashes with the plot of this story horribly; oh dear. And I think that the epilogue was…okay. As much as I love Alucard, it would have been better if he STAYED dead. But then there would have been no equality scene. Crap. I contradict myself.

Pip is a secret. For now.

Kiseki no Tenshi: Thanks a bunch!

Queen Adelia: ITS SHINY. And now I don't have to worry about you never reviewing. And now you're no longer the mysterious hamburger meat friend. :3 Oh Hocus Pocus – best witch movie evar. Still makes me cry though ;-; And now that image will haunt my dreams forever. I hope you're happy D:

End Responses

I get to chase after a UPS truck waving a large box over my head in order to send my Xbox in for repair. This brings back childhood memories of chasing after the ice cream truck.

What I do for video games.

Next Chapter: Books about trains are abused. And asskicking. Oh noes.


	3. In the Land of Bloody Beach Grass

I wish FF would change its layout a little bit. I like the simplicity of how it looks now but…I dunno – it seems very sterile and impersonal. Perhaps I've been on dA for too long (I get a lot of my ideas for OC characters and original plot lines through art; rarely anything for Fanfiction though).

**Disclaimer:** saying I own Hellsing is like saying I'm blue. And since I'm neither a smurf nor a nightelf I don't own it.

My family has a lovely HD television in the living room. My parents don't know why I enjoy it when they leave the house, and they don't know that it's because when they leave, I can watch Hellsing OVAs on that screen. With the volume REAL loud. It's bliss. Bloody, Nazi, oh-dear-god-that's-damn-sexy bliss. Plus its funny when my little brother comes in and screams 'THERE'S BRITISH PEOPLE EVERYWHERE'.

Too bad Geneon hasn't come out with a dubbed Hellsing OVA since 2008. (sigh) It was one of the decent dubs out there…

xxx

**Winter Will Come **

**Chapter Two: In the Land of Bloody Beach Grass**

xxx

Dressed in a fresh pair of tan Dockers and a light blue shirt, Seras was rubbing the dead from her eye with the heel of her hand as she knocked on her master's dorm room door. She had not slept well, with the taste of pizza and chicken wings still in her mouth, and her body still lagged. Her blood pumped sluggishly through her veins, and she knew she had a bad case of coffin-hair, but she really didn't care. Her master would get murderous if he didn't have a thermos of blood.

After a few seconds, plenty of time for Alucard to crawl out of his coffin and answer the door, Seras wondered what was taking him. So she jiggled the doorknob a little until the push-lock popped out, then strolled inside, the thermos tucked to her side.

The dorm room looked as if it was still unoccupied. The only sign that Alucard had ever been there were the three empty thermoses under the bed and the coffin standing upright in the closet. Seras tapped it to see if Alucard was in it, but she only received a hollow sound from that experiment.

"Hey!"

At the sound of the voice, Seras slammed the closet door shut and whipped around. Logan was peeping into the room, his green Mohawk a little droopy from a lack of styling. He was beaming, so Seras tried to smile back. Her face muscles weren't fully awake yet, so it was more of a one-sided smirk that belonged on a stroke victim.

"Hello," Seras ground out, hoping he didn't notice the bare bed or the red liquid dripping from the mouth of one visible thermos.

"Are you looking for Vlad?" Logan asked, beaming. Seras wondered for a split second who the hell Vlad was, until she remembered that Alucard had changed his name.

"Oh, of course." Seras nudged the thermos under the bed. "Do you know where he is?" _And if he's on the upper floor eating a blond premed student…_

"He's in the lobby," Logan chirped, shifting the weight of the massive backpack hanging off one shoulder. "He told me to come up and get you and to tell you to 'bring a thermos'." He added finger quotes around the last phrase, telling Seras that Alucard had said it too seriously.

Her master, like her, was still recovering from last night's outing. He had downed three thermoses last night, after upchucking a brilliant combination of chicken wings and pizza behind a dumpster outside the dormitory. As elegantly as possible, of course.

"Thanks, tell him I'll be down soon." Seras nodded to Logan, and he bounded off towards the stairs, actually determined. "Oh well – at least he's optimistic," she said to herself once he was gone.

Seras emptied her carryon and took a swig of blood to take the edge off her thirst. She then tucked her master's breakfast under her arm and set off down the hallway.

Alucard was curled up in his college student form in the lobby, reading a book about trains. He had changed his hair slightly, giving himself longer fringes that framed his face, and a white forelock just for kicks.

"Master…?" Seras walked up to Alucard slowly, seeing that he was thoroughly ensconced in his locomotive book.

The nosferatu grunted, not looking up. He held out an expectant hand, gloveless with black nails and another ring. He was really getting into his guise, and the tap-tap-taping of his tongue ring against his right canine was already getting old. "Food."

Seras put the full thermos into his hand, and Alucard mournfully put his train book down on the little table next to his chair. He unscrewed the blue lid of the thermos and sipped at it.

"The _vrăjitoare's_ assistant should be here soon," he said, taking a big gulp and dripping blood on his black shirt. There was that word again. "Fix your bed head." Seras squawked shrilly and patted at her hair, trying not to point out to her master that his hair had been known to act of its own accord.

At that moment, Logan appeared, beaming.

"Sup, vampires," he said, chewing a mouthful of what Seras guessed to be bread and some kind of salty meat. He offered the sandwich to Alucard. "Want some? It's salami."

Alucard stared at the sandwich and turned red with rage.

xxx

"So you _knew_ we were vampires and you still made us eat pizza?" Seras asked as they waited in the foyer of the Salem Institute.

It was surprisingly fancy, more fitting for a five star hotel than a business that specialized with bloody fights to the death with vampires (but then again, the Hellsing estate was worth a few million pounds). The floor was pearl, seamless tile, edged with shiny lacquered cherry wood. The clerk was not sitting at a drab desk but behind a cherry wood counter with veins of purplish magic running through it. A chandelier with tinkling, fake diamonds hung from a surprisingly tall ceiling, casting a friendly, bright glow across the foyer. Olive colored chairs were scattered around round, dainty tables with vases of flowers in the middle.

Alucard was a big black shadow in a fancy olive chair, chewing angrily on the straw he was using to drink a glass of warm, fresh blood. This had been a peace offering from the Institute - virgin blood in exchange for forgiving Logan for being a moron. It hadn't placated Alucard in the slightest.

"I'm really sorry," Logan said for the twelfth time, his blue eyes pleading. That should have tipped them off, really. "But my friends expect me to do that with the newbies, since I really am the RA for that floor. They aren't witches, and they're wicked paranoid." He looked at Alucard. "You can have that book about trains if you want."

That did not please the vampire king. He stared at the marble between his feet, draining the glass rapidly. Even though he had been around for the turn of the century (both centuries), Sir Integra had once whispered to Seras that Alucard had a mysterious fascination with trains and planes and other machinery. But whenever someone brought it up, he fiercely denied it, and the accuser usually went away with a limp.

Seras hoped Logan dropped that subject before Alucard broke his kneecaps. She put a hand on the witch's shoulder and gave him a look that said 'shut up before he flattens you with that book'.

Logan caught on quickly and changed the subject.

"I'm supposed to brief you guys on the situation here," Logan said sheepishly, fiddling with the cuff of his shirt. "Do you want to look around first or -."

"Tell us," Alucard grunted, running a finger along the inside of the empty glass and finding it covered with dust. He glared at Logan while he cleaned his finger by scrubbing it on the arm of his chair spitefully. "Now."

The college student/witch-in-training squeaked and almost popped the button off his shirt cuff. "Well, you see – we've recently had to deal with a number of humans coming into contact with vampires and _living_, so the secret is kind of out…"

"What do you mean?" Seras asked before Alucard could blow his top. He had lived in a time where vampires had been mere fairy tales, and had developed a stubborn ideal that vampires and humans should never coexist (not couldn't, but _shouldn't_), but Seras had an inkling that the cat would be out of the bag in the next decade or so. "How many people know?"

"Well, our researchers think that out of the six billion people in the word, at least thirty percent know about vampires and werewolves and stuff." Logan was growing more comfortable, brushing off Alucard's gruffness with the resiliency of a university student. "But most of them are apart of organizations like ourselves or are…you know, in Britain."

"But that's not the problem. Keeping these people quiet is really easy. However, some of them have taken to forming little groups of their own and going off and staking vampires themselves, including peaceful covens who we have made truces with. And they've also injured innocents during their escapades, such as when they burned down a coven's house in Back Bay and the fire spread to neighboring apartment buildings.

"And now the vampires are growing angry. They've struck back numerous times, and this week they left a body hanging from the Hancock Tower with a note for the rest of them. It was only with the help of the police that we made up a story to keep the public quiet."

Logan finished explaining the Salem Institute's predicament weary and pale, as if the realization of the seriousness of a human and vampire skirmish was upon him. He looked at Alucard, his now haggard voice clashing with his flamboyant hair.

"We were kind of hoping that you would be able to talk to the vampires while we deal with the Edgar Brigade."

Alucard's scowl softened. He loved it when people stroked his ego. "I will see what I can do, but I can't guarantee that it won't become a slaughter. Most yearlings are too stupid for their own good."

A small voice spoke to Seras; _you were almost one of the stupid ones_. She cocked her head, pondering its familiar accent.

xxx

When most people think of the land around lakes or the sea they think of lush, green vegetation, with acres of green grass and beautiful palm trees. They imagine people playing in the warm surf, children laughing, families sitting under brilliant umbrellas that dotted a crowded coast like specks of paint. Hot sand, warm wind.

Seras stared at the barren beach with slight homesickness. There were no palm trees, no families; just miles and miles of sand and iron grey seawater. The wind was biting this late at night, and it screamed shrilly around them, stinging their eyes and leaving them with the lingering scent of salt. It was just like home.

There was a half-moon tonight, and it was high in the sky, casting dim light across the faces of the witches gathered on the beach. They were pale and their faces where pinched, and Logan's hair shone like a neon sign. Everything was in black and white under the moon, except for Alucard's bright red clothing and Sera's sweater. The irony was unbearable.

Alucard sniffed the air, the moonlight glinting off of the fake piercings in his ears. Like Seras, he only caught the overpowering smell of salt. "Are you sure the hostile coven is here?"

"You can't smell them?" Morgan's hair was tied back so that it didn't tickle her face when the wind blew it around. "Then the answer's obvious. They're completely hidden here. There is always constant noise, and always a constant smell to cover-up their meals. They attack lone pedestrians when they come out here alone. It is the perfect spot."

Alucard's eyes narrowed, and Seras knew it was a sign he was thinking deeply. He was probably comparing the beach to his old castle, which was far less inconspicuous. But not as sandy.

"The running water –," Alucard began, but he knew the answer to his own question. Powerful vampires felt the tug less, and their childe would grow accustomed to it. This _was_ the perfect hiding place.

They were all silent for a while, listening to the waves as if they would be able to hear the whisper of vampires hiding. Finally Seras spoke up; "Is there a way to lure them out?"

Everyone turned towards Alucard in complete unison. Logan said, "We were hoping he would know what to do."

For a moment Alucard got a horribly whimsical look on his face. And the last time he had a whimsy, Seras was born into darkness.

xxx

"Are you sure this will work?"

Sometimes Alucard had no patience for those with a weak stomach. Half of Morgan's witches were pale in the face, three were gagging ineffectively, and one had already vomited spectacularly into the crook of a scraggly tree. Really now, weren't all these modern Americans supposed to be desensitized?

The vampire scoffed and ripped the head off another of the seagulls he had snatched from the air. "Almost positive. All of this bird blood will disguise Seras's blood's scent, but one of them will be bound to be drawn to it." The blood spurted from the gull's neck, spraying onto the beach. The sand in a five foot radius had turned to dark red mud.

Said Police Girl was sitting in a nearby sand dune, looking dazed and a little loopy from blood loss.

Once the gull population of the beach was significantly decreased, Alucard gave the signal for silence and dragged his fledgling to a hiding spot. All around, witches murmured words and vanished into the dunes, and even Logan's hair was nothing more than some sand and a bit of mermaids' purses.

There was silence all around. The waves reached toward the shore, white froth almost hitting the giant bloody stain in the sand, and the faintest sound of rustling was heard by those who were hiding. Seras and Alucard hid in the darkness cast by the scraggy trees that dotted the field of beach grass just beyond the dunes. Seras could feel the tension in her gut, and her fangs bit into her bottom lip in anticipation.

Suddenly there was a bloodcurdling scream. A male witch came into view as his spell failed, shrieking in pain as a pale figure raked sharp nails into his chest. More blood flew as all the other witches around the dying one became visible and began chanting spells. The vampire flung these aside with a sweep of its arm and ran for the field of grass.

Seras felt Alucard's fingers digging into her upper arm as she fought to go and help the witches. The dying witch was letting out a horrible rattle just as the vampire rushed past their hiding spot, with four or five shrieking witches on its heels. When the vampire rushed by, Alucard struck. The nosferatu leapt out from the shadows, bearing down on the fleeing vampire like a bird of prey. The vampire let out a terrified squeal as Alucard tore off one of its arms, spraying blood over the tops of the beach grass.

Something odd happened. Seras had an inkling that Alucard did it on purpose to test the witches, but for whatever reason he suddenly 'lost' his grip on the struggling vampire, letting it flee farther into the field.

Covered in blood and smirking, Alucard cast a glance over at Morgan, who looked like she was about to explode; a vein in her forehead was swelling. But she was the only one who thought Alucard was up to something shifty (aside from Seras), and all the other witches were sending their familiars out into the field to search for the vampire. A badger went waddling in front of Seras, sniffed her ankles, and decided she wasn't the right vampire before heading out into the beach grass.

"What the hell are you doing?" Morgan hissed, storming up to Alucard and glaring up at him. Her head had to tilt back to a near forty degree angle, but she still looked intimidating – to everyone except Alucard, who was finding everything hilarious. "Your organization sends you to us to help and all you can do is - stop that! You stop that _right now,_ you giant_ infant!_"

Her voice had gradually risen as Alucard chuckled at her distress, and by the time she bit out the last of her insult the witches were turning their heads towards them and Alucard had stopped laughing.

But Alucard did not look angry. In fact, he was leering in a most unpleasant way, making Seras look abruptly away because she knew he was about to point out some significant fact that would bring Morgan to her knees.

Which he did.

"I was merely letting the vampire flee towards his brothers, so that I could destroy them all together," Alucard drawled without looking his loathsome smile. "And though you and you're company have ruined it, I believe I can scrap it."

Morgan's face had become a pathetic mix of pink and pasty white, and her lips had thinned to almost nonexistence. A lesser woman would have been brought to tears, but she looked determined to either right the situation or beat Alucard until he had to crawl around with his elbows and sheer willpower. She decided to combine the two.

"Alright then," she said, scowling. Her face began to return to its normal paleness, and Seras felt a little glad. "Show us your brilliance," she made a motion to the witches searching the field, and they returned, "Find the vampire coven."

Seras nodded in acknowledgement, knowing Alucard wouldn't do the same, and trotted after her master. The beach grass seemed to part before him, the tan threads of grass flinching away from the touch of his dead skin. A trail of blood had been left by the injured vampire, but she knew Alucard didn't need to follow the path that the bloody beach grass made. He sailed through like a shadow, a predatory grin slowly moving across his face as he moved in for the kill.

_Aren't we supposed to be reasoning with them?_ Seras thought distantly as she trailed her hand over a strand of grass where the blood had already dried and begun to flake. Specks of blood remained on her fingertips, so she wiped it off on her pants, which in retrospect wasn't a good idea. Now she had dry bits of blood on her tan slacks.

Alucard suddenly dove to his left, and she saw a wave of beach grass rippling and shuddering as he went for whatever had caught his attention. A moment later Seras heard the hard snap of breaking wood, and then –

_KABLAM. _

A sharp wail combined with the gun's retort, and everything echoed in the silence that followed. Including the screams of the other vampires that Alucard began restraining.

He had released to level two (another formality he had yet to let go), and was using tentacles of materialized shadow to cocoon no less than a half dozen wriggling, shrieking vampires. The one he had shot was also the one he had torn an arm off of, and it was slowly bleeding out of a hole where its face had once been.

"You killed him!" one of the black cocoons was shrieking. "You killed him you killed him!"

His leather suit making the scene all the more disturbing, Alucard peered curiously at the restrained vampires, allowing the shadows to recede from their faces. "Do you know these?" he asked, as if the vampires were objects.

Morgan was running up to them, out of breath and more than a little disturbed at Alucard's sudden power and form. The witches behind her were worse off, and a few of them were covering their eyes with their arms – one of them was holding his marten familiar over his face. Blood spurting from seagulls was one thing – watching a crazed nosferatu melt into shadows was another.

"No," Morgan panted, doubling over with her hands on her bent knees. He gulped down a few mouthfuls of air before speaking again, and Seras wondered how fast she and her master had been walking. "I don't know any of them. The only coven we know around here is up near the town."

"So these have no ties to you?" Alucard asked over the cries of 'you killed him'.

"No…" Morgan trailed off when Alucard raised his gun. "Wait! Don't –!"

_KABLAM_.

The sound was so loud that it made Seras's teeth rattle, and she looked at the ground. This brought no comfort, as she could still smell the blood and hear the rustle of a body falling into beach grass.

"Hey!" Morgan was screaming now, and Alucard was killing off the restrained vampires one by one, each with their own unique _bang_ from the _Casull_ (two point oh). "Hey! Stop that!"

"You killed _them_!" The one screaming vampire had turned tragic, and he seemed crucified in Alucard's shadows. "You coward! Fight us! Stop killing them and _fight us you son of a _-!"

Alucard shot him in the throat and let him choke to death on silver and blood.

xxx

There is this stack of books next to my bed about Victorian England/London. OH GOD I HATE ENGLISH MONEY. They have normal shit like SHILLINGS and PENNIES (pence?) and POUNDS, but then there was the Guinea, which was worth ONE pound and ONE shilling. Why not a pound and a half? WHY NOT TWO POUNDS? MOMMY MAKE THE SHENANIGANS STOP.

Ahem…no offense. I'm usually an anglophile, I swear.

I don't know why idiots run in fields of beach grass. Ticks thrive in there. Then again, Alucard is kind of like a giant tick. Never mind.

Review Responses:

TaikeruSohma: Erm…well, I don't really allow other people's characters into my stories, but I guess if you sent me a quick description in a PM I could have them be a random person who's killed in a later chapter. If that's okay XD (I do it all the time with any of the characters I put into any of the twenty books I write – Alucard's killed one of my main characters at least three times).

Thess: I always think my characterization of Alucard sucks. He's never creepy enough D: I write him in, but all I can think of is 'he could totally be creepier'. I try to channel Bela Lugosi but it never works.

Master of the Boot: BOOTY! :3 Baw, you sure know how to make a girl feel special. Some people can draw, some can play sports – I can write bloody, sarcastic stories about Dracula and his love affair with his guns. BOOYA. And I TOTALLY forgot about my other nickname for Alucard; now I will never be able to get through US History tomorrow (who cares if we're in the Cold War period – I'll be thinking of George Washington).

Parrots are the best :D When I get a place of my own I'm going to get a cockatiel and work myself up to a macaw. Then I will have seventeen parrots and no money. I've no idea how I came up with Logan. I was just writing and suddenly I had the idea to have a comic-relief derp who finds Alucard hilarious. Though this'll fade with time D: Meh!? College!? I want to be in college! FFFF – I'm still a junior ;-; I want to live in a dorm and have bat lighting and to be in a town where the people aren't (expletive) and fund my school. FUUUUUUUUUUUND MEEEEEEE.

Damn that was a long response.

Keaydee: :D Thanks. That's saying something about my derp-y personality. I'm actually not that funny in real life – or at least, no one laughs most of the time XD. I'm not even the funniest person in my group of friends, who usually pat me on the shoulder and go 'that wasn't funny, you dingbat'.

Queen Adelia: EEEEVIL. We watched that movie in French the next day! (why we watched it when it was French I will never know). AND ALL I COULD THINK OF WAS THAT. I giggled at the most RANDOM moments. "Kana why are you laughing?" "Because I don't think Bette Midler would win against DRACULA." (Crickets cheeping).

You haven't seen the cutest kitties until you see my friend's (seven) cats chase after a red penlight. The crippled one's the best – doing ninja-cripple-Assassin's Creed moves off the wall.

Random Romantasist 999: 999 equals fifty percent more evil? Hey, I actually DID learn something in Algebra! Anyway, I guess I don't do AxS because its…icky. It's all paternal and ewwwww. I'll read anything if its good (I have a few AxS in my favorites), but I can't write it. I can barely write AxI. But at least you keep yourself busy XD.

End Responses

I CAUGHT THE UPS MAN. And then I was so relieved I slept for twelve hours cause my insomnia let me :3 Thank you, insomnia.

Oh god, get Billy Joel's _We Didn't Start the Fire _OUT OF MY HEAD. (Somebody gives her AC/DC's _Thunderstruck_.) THIS DOESN'T HELP AHG SHIIIT – _ahhahhahhahaaa_.

Well shit. _THUNDER. _

Let's all review so I get my sanity back. _Ahhahhahaaaa_. _BELGIANS IN THE CONGO!_ OH GOD NOOOO.


	4. The Word of the Day

There seems to be a dog licking my arm as I type, causing me to write 'eguhaba' when I mean to type 'the'. She's awfully cute though, and smells nice :D CUTER THAN BABY SEALS. CUTER THAN A SMILING CIEL PHANTOMHIVE. Cuter than my friend's reaction when he found out that Vincent Phantomhive looked like. "IS THAT -?" "Oh yeah." "OH GOD those Sebastian/Ciel people are _**SICK**_." "I know."

Guess who reads Sebastian/Ciel in her spare time? Bwaha-effing-ha.

**Disclaimer:** If I own Hellsing, then my name is actually Malfurion. And since I see no evil twin coming at me with his panda swords, I don't own it. Damn that lack of panda swords.

When I say 'my laptop is falling apart', I mean 'without the tape – SHIT WOULD FALL OFF'. I enjoy the tape though. It gives my laptop character; like a gentle smoking habit.

xxx

**Winter Will Come**

**Chapter Three: The Word of the Day**

xxx

The head of the Salem Institute was Morgan's distant cousin, though to Seras they looked nothing alike. Morgan had thick, wavy brown hair and was short and petite, while Whitney was tall and had black hair. Her eyes were a strange teal color, and she was significantly calmer than Morgan. Her familiar was an olive-colored baboon that sat at the edge of her large desk, nudging her occasionally in a plea for attention.

"It is nice to meet you, Mr. Alucard," Whitney said congenially, crossing her legs and beckoning the baboon towards her. It lopped over to her and swung onto the back of her chair, where it tapped out a rhythm on her head gently. "Sir Hellsing has told me many good things about you, including your constant need for slaughter and attention. You have achieved both tonight." She continued to smile kindly at him, though the baboon showed him its teeth.

Perhaps there were more similarities than what Seras had previously thought. Whitney's biting comment almost made Alucard twitch. But he had been playing her game for much longer, and Seras wasn't sure if verbal berating could even faze Alucard anymore.

_Sticks and stones may break his bones,_ Seras thought sadly as her master and Whitney grinned at each other like plotting hyenas. _But he'll just laugh at you afterwards. _

The phone rang just as Alucard opened his mouth to spew something sly and degrading for Whitney. The Institute leader hit several buttons on her phone before picking up and answering with a merry hello. Seras blocked her ears so she couldn't hear the person on the other line, but she would still hear Whitney speaking. Alucard continued to eavesdrop shamelessly.

"Oh yes, he's here," she said happily, as if talking about a new piece of furniture she had just bought. "He's behaving very well now." A pause. "No, I haven't told him yet, but I'm sure he'll know soon enough. I expect he _will _be very angry, but we can handle it." Another, longer pause. "Yes, he's listening."

Seras uncovered her ears just in time to hear Integra say, "Don't do it again Alucard. I trust you." Her voice was tinny and soft, but it seemed to make Alucard depress within himself, like a dog that had been kicked.

Only crazy people trusted Alucard. But that's just how Integra rolled.

"Now, Mr. Alucard," Whitney's smile turned upward in a smirk that did not reach her eyes anymore. "With that unpleasant matter out of the way, what say we get to the point?"

"That would be the most reasonable path," Alucard growled as amiably as he could, but it came out as a rasp that Seras had mostly heard him speak with right before he went level one and ate someone. He slumped into one of the armchairs that Whitney had before her desk, crossing his legs and steepling his fingers to hide his anger.

Seras knew he was miffed about being tattled on.

"Logan has already told you about our dilemma with the vampires and the Edgar Brigade," Whitney began, reaching a hand back and making her familiar stop tapping her head. "What I haven't told _him_ is that there will be a charity dinner held this evening for the family of the man the vampires killed and hung. I want you and your fledgling to attend with me."

Alucard was curious, and Seras could see it in his eyes. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, feeling the blood in her veins rush towards her feet. It was a strange sensation, and one that made her curl her toes.

"We were not lent to you to be minders," Alucard said slyly, peering at her over the tops of his hands.

"You didn't let me finish," Whitney murmured, her voice growing soft. "The head of the Edgar Brigade is going to be there. I want the two of you to track him down and bring him to us."

"Oh?"

When Alucard said 'oh', it could mean anything out of nearly two dozen choices, all depending on the situation, his expression, how much ammunition he had left, and the tone of his voice. The selection ranged from 'so you're _really_ going to try to kill me?' to 'I had _no_ idea his blood would get _there_'. Seras could tell that this 'oh' meant 'so what the hell are _you_ going to do with him that _I_ can't do better and bloodier?'

Whitney seemed to know the meaning as well. "Yes. Once we have him in our custody we will attempt to persuade him to disband his brigade."

"And if you can't?" Seras asked innocently before Alucard could say something snide. She had started to rub her arm subconsciously, feeling it slide and pull under her fingers.

"Then we will kill him and dump his body in the Charles River." Whitney added a smile that made Seras wonder what the hell kind of thoughts were going through her head. "Without him the Edgar Brigade will fall apart, and maybe some of them will even kill each other off."

_You are surrounded by the clinically insane_. Again there was the accented voice. Something ticked her arm, and Seras looked to her right and saw an odd shadow there, clinging to her like an old friend. When it saw her looking its way, a flash of white appeared on its face in a friendly smile.

xxx

The dinner was scheduled for that night, Friday, so the Institute gave them the day to rest. Alucard instantly took the chance to retire to his coffin – literally; when he got the news, he disappeared into the shadows, and Seras knew he would be in his coffin in less than a minute.

Seras walked back to the dorm with Logan, and he hesitated before the door.

"Please tell me that there is a method to his madness," Logan murmured to Seras as they walked. "That he's not just a madman."

Seras thought how Integra, the most clever woman she had ever know, who wouldn't trust the King with a pen, let alone the secret of her organization, trusted Alucard. What would happen if Alucard stopped respecting Integra and decided that world domination was a more interesting approach?

"He's eerily sane at times," Seras mumbled, thinking of a time that seemed a million years ago, when Alucard had fits of extreme sanity and insanity, of delicate monologues preformed in Brazil followed by planes crashing nose first into ships. "But normally he's just…himself. He has a personality all his own."

"I believe Webster calls that 'creepy'." Logan sighed, running a hand along the fin of his hair. He looked at her suddenly, something fearful in his eyes. "At the beach…can you do the same thing?"

"Shoot?" Seras had the mental image of her _Harkonnen,_ kept at home on a stand. No human could fire it the way she could, but the troops that guarded the mansion and carried out missions in England while they were away could aim and fire it like a heavily-powered cannon.

"No," Logan looked very uncomfortable. "That other thing…the darkness."

Most people didn't know how to describe Alucard's abilities. Seras didn't even know how, though she shared them to an extent. She gripped her malleable arm, smoothing out the edges that had begun to drift.

"Yes." Seras winced when Logan flinched. She opened her mouth to say more, but the only thing that came out was a croak.

There was a moment of silence that followed her croak, and it made Seras feel very dead; as they climbed the stairs, Logan's breathing grew gradually heavier, while hers stayed the same. Every so often she would forget to breathe, and Logan would look at her.

"What is it?" Logan said suddenly.

"What is what?"

"What is the…stuff?"

Seras smiled a bit. "It's a secret."

Logan laughed at her, but it sounded forced. "You vampires and your secrets."

xxx

A vampire that is wakened suddenly has trouble doing anything normally. So when a sudden ringing made Seras jerk awake, she had to pinch her cheeks to get her mouth to work properly. She flexed her leg muscles before stepping out of the coffin, but she stumbled a little on her way to the room's cheap beige phone.

Pins and needles jabbing at her legs made her wince. She had been asleep for over ten hours, long enough for her to die, which meant it was at least dusk. The dinner was just hours away, and it made her stomach clench.

Seras's left foot wasn't fully awake, so she banged it against the desk while she answered the phone. Her 'hello' came out as a jumbled mess that sounded more like Alucard's word for witch.

The person on the other line understood it anyway.

"Seras!" It was Morgan; a very frantic, very harried Morgan. "There is someone on your floor! In Alucard's room!"

"Is it a vampire?" Seras asked, feeling her arm melt into a vague wing, ready for a fight.

A pause and a few murmurs in the background. "The Seers say it's human."

Something slammed into her door, and Seras could hear an unmistakable grunt as the push-lock gave away. She flung the phone away, and it clattered across the desk and to the floor, hanging dejectedly by its cord. She cursed herself for not bringing a gun overseas and wished she had remembered to ask the Institute for one.

A man, young and filled with bloodlust, came charging in, holding a silver cross high in one hand, and a sharp shard of wood in the other. Seras recoiled at the sight of the stake, which wasn't shaped or anything – it was just a sliver of wood that would put her in enough pain to allow the man to cut off her head.

But the man had obviously expected her to still be sleeping, for he did a double take when he saw her standing by the window, seemingly crippled with one arm. Seras hissed, wondering if Morgan had mistaken her room as Alucard's, or if there was more than one.

There was more than one, obviously. They had notoriously bad luck.

Instead of scowling, Seras just looked bored as the man came at her with both of his weapons raised high. He was just one human, not an entire army of ghouls or another vampire with a wide vocabulary and a machine gun and…

Sighing, Seras threw out her shadows, wrapping them around her attacker's face. The man let out a muffled scream of surprise, dropping his weapons so that he could grip the shadows that wound around his head like a towel, suffocating him. He struggled for a few moments and fell to the floor, still trying to rip off her shadows as he passed out.

When he was out cold, Seras knelt beside him and checked his pulse. It was faint, but it was there, and she left him lying on her floor in favor of running out into the hall.

Another one of the attackers, this time a woman, was readying herself to break down Logan's door. But then…

There was a strange tearing sound, and the woman paused for a moment to consider the sound, and by then it was too late. The door exploded outward, shattering into a million shards of oak with such force that even from where Seras stood, she could feel little splinters tickle her flesh. The woman was not so lucky – she crumpled to the floor with four spikes of wood sprouting from her chest and neck.

Logan stepped out, trembling but unharmed. He saw Seras and carefully eyed the cloud that had become her arm.

"Are you okay?" he asked, disregarding the arm. Seras fumbled a bit before shaping it until one couldn't even tell what it really was.

"I feel kind of like a pincushion," Seras said softly, picking out the tiny slivers of wood that dotted her sweater, which he had neglected to change out of. It smelled like blood, salt air, and now wood. It also had small dots of blood on it, sprayed form the dead woman's jugular. "But I'm otherwise okay."

"Where is…" Logan began, and Seras looked towards her master's door.

It was wide open.

She forced Logan behind her, knowing that Alucard didn't care who he shot, so long as it hit someone. Then she edged up to the door, peeking discreetly inside.

Alucard was standing alone in the middle of the room, his hair shielding his expression from Seras. He was letting out a haggard rasping noise, and the room seemed to be ice cold. He held a long sliver of wood in his hand, and as they stood at the doorway he let it drop to the floor, as if it disgusted him.

Seras knew that he was angry. Angry that someone other than 'that man' had attempted to stake him. What she didn't want to know was where his attacker was.

"There were only two," Alucard said, his voice like a pin dropping in a silent room. "I'm going back to bed."

And that was that. Seras dragged Logan away from the scene, ignoring his comments of 'where's the other one?', and wondered if Morgan would believe anything she came up with.

xxx

The Salem Institute was apparently good when it came to dealing with the public. When asked why there had been so much noise, they merely said that a rowdy child had been in the building. Seras had an inkling that Morgan had created that one.

Once the only living attacker had been cleared away, Seras was given leave to return to bed. Though she was tired, Seras wasn't able to close her eyes without thinking off her master's curious mood. Staring at the lid of her coffin, she tried not to think of what would happen if…

Seras lifted her coffin's lid away and stepped out. She contemplated going down to the dorm's small kitchen to heat up a thermos, but decided to put it off when she remembered that her clothing was less than acceptable, as it smelled odd and was peppered with blood.

So she had a small supper in her room, sitting on the mattress and watching the sun set through the small window. It hurt her eyes a little, but she had grown used to the pain of sunlight. Her meal was cold and bland, but it made her feel a little better. She attempted to see into her master's head, but found that it was locked tight, even though the sun was bleeding onto the horizon and Alucard should have been at his weakest.

Another disturbing thought.

Seras returned the half-drained thermos to her bag. As she was zipping up her carrying, the phone caught her eye. She argued with herself for a moment or two before giving up on the spontaneous idea to call Sir Integra.

"She would have already found out." Seras sighed. "She would know that he's not being himself."

_Your master is confused, girlie_. The shadow appeared on her arm, this time manifesting with its friendly smile instantly. _He has all this freedom, but also all of this maturity. He has lost his child-mind. _

"How do you know?" Seras asked. "What if he still plans to take over England, or kill Sir Integra?"

_He still does, and he will_. The shadow had no eyes, which made its smile even stranger. _Eventually_.

'Eventually' hung in the air like a gunshot.

xxx

An hour later and Logan was knocking at her door. Seras stepped out, wearing her uniform, feeling comfortable and competent. Logan was dressed in a simple suit, though he had neglected a tie. He was supposed to be representing the Institute's future generation, and he seemed to be taking it seriously. He had kept his Mohawk, but it was a more sedate brown instead of lime green.

Alucard was behind him, without his disguise for the first time since they had arrived, and he seemed taller than usual. He wore no hat or glasses, and Seras almost gave up on the whole affaire when she saw that he had no gloves on as well. She couldn't tell whether they were hidden by glamour or…

Eventually…

"Look how tall Vlad is!" Logan laughed nervously.

"Over three meters." Alucard smirked, looking very smug.

Logan's nervous laugh increased, and Seras hoped that Alucard would occupy himself with teasing humans for the time being, and let her stop worrying about what he would do when he realized that…that…

_Eventually_.

xxx

Keeping Alucard in character WHILE giving him out of character issues is like taking a test without studying. You can either do really well or you can bomb it so bad that it ends World War II. And Alucard's personality is already really hard to write.

And I think I just nuked it. Oh god D:

It is _extremely_ hard to figure out how to make Alucard react to Integra when he is not bound to her. I am a bit of an AxI shipper (mostly because it's RIGHT. THERE) but I can't let Alucard's crotch guide him through life – he is _not_ Tony Stark, no matter how much we want him to be. That's what happened to Dracula and even THE GYPSIES COULDN'T SAVE HIM.

Review Responses: oh my, this amount of reviews is enough to make a poor weeaboo weep.

Keaydee: Oh my. Next time I get the chance, I will TOTALLY add that in.

Thess: I guess that's true. There are considerable differences between Alucard among friends and Alucard among Nazi's – which is understandable. And Dracula has a very acute obsession with trains – he learns English through train timetables. A few other novels that I have read with Dracula poke fun at this and often take it to a ridiculous level, but I usually put it in if I want to make a particularly tense moment with Alucard seem…sillier. Or if I feel like making fun of Alucard, which I do a lot.

Master of the Boot: I'm glad that I could make your day :D Poor Alucard does have this crap fashion sense, doesn't he? The only thing that he looks good in is red and black; Alucard in canary yellow WOULD be a lovely sight though. And there will be a LOT of magic later on, as well as more asskicking. I enjoy asskicking. And that advice is SO good! I totally realized that that's how Alucard's always so creepy! Like how he gets shot in the head and adjust GRINS. Oh god it's amazing. And how do you romanticize _ALUCARD?_ He's Mr. Badass Longcoat; Hirano came DAMN CLOSE to depicting Cthulhu with Alucard - _you can't romanticize that_. That brilliant creepy bastard.

Queen Adelia: They speak French? Whoa. Pfft, we've seen more than just GRUESOME in Hellsing. We've seen vampire Nazis eating babies (my friends and I are so going to hell for saying 'vampire Nazis eating babies?' instead of 'what?') and guys get their legs shot off. We've seen people get arms cut off and burn to death. We've seen people incessantly press elevator buttons. The horror. The _horror_.

End Responses

Why do people like my random OC stories more than this stuff? You're all a bunch of weirdoes (then again, so am I). I LOVE ALL OF YOU FREAKS.

Its beeeeeeeeedtiiiiiiiiime for me, lovelies. My insomnia's about to crack on the night I have volunteer work in the morning, and I'm looooopy. Watching Hellsing OVAS when you're tired is fuuun.


	5. Long to Reign Over Us

Starting a new chapter always feels weird, but I've gotten into a sort of rhythm (I can never spell rhythm right, either. Rhyme is another toughie). It's all apart of my evil plan.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Hellsing. If I did, I would buy _Vampire Hunter D_ and just TICKLE HIM.

I feel like I need to put something here. Alright; I have a desperate confession to make – I have a slight obsession with Sebastian's demon boots. There, this space is filled.

I'm posting this early because I have SAT's this Saturday and I want to just get this up so I have all of today to study instead of scanning fanfic for typos. My friend says 'witches – they are bitches, and flick switches, but don't grant wishes'. I think that means 'hi'.

xxx

**Winter Will Come**

**Chapter Four: Long to Reign Over Us**

xxx

Seras had never been to many large events. There had been the ceremony that had been held a month or two after London's destruction, in honor of Sir Integra and of the dead. But that had been a blur, as everything had been about presentation and formalities and 'don't think about it'. The Queen had been losing it and couldn't remember where Alucard was and it grew to be too much. Seras had made up an excuse to leave, wondering how Integra had been able to take it, and hadn't gone to another since.

The charity dinner was small compared to anything the state hosted, but it was still a little overwhelming. It was being held in a nearby hotel, and a valet was able to tell the driver how to get back to Alston without taking a heavily trafficked route.

The dinner was situated in the hotel's dining hall, which they used for high school proms and parties and such. The hotel's resident's were still out and about, checking in or going to the pool or having dinner in one of the smaller restaurants. A few people glanced their way as they asked a clerk where the dining hall was. One or two people were outright staring at Alucard. It was hard to be inconspicuous when you're wearing bright red and were over six feet tall.

"Have you ever considered something more…sober?" Morgan asked, looking exceedingly sober in a dull green pantsuit.

"Red suits me," Alucard said with a sneer. "Dare say – I like red."

"If something goes wrong, you'll be remembered." Morgan scowled, obviously trying to picture Alucard in anything other than red or black. Seras didn't have the heart to tell her about Alucard's hideous taste in ties, or of the suit he once wore to Brazil.

Chuckling as if Morgan had declared the moon made of cheese, Alucard looked at her over his glasses. "No on remembers me. In fact, if these humans are questioned, they will develop the impression that I was old and frail."

Morgan shook her head, as that image was impossible. She didn't know that about two hundred people who had been outside Hotel Rio thirty or so years ago still thought that the Dandy Man had brawled with a ten year old girl in a yellow jumper. Seras wanted to tell her that Alucard was just trying to mess with her, hoping to make her crack. It looked as if he would succeed eventually.

There was that fucking word again.

When they got to the entrance to the dining room, a man with a clipboard asked for their names. Before Morgan could speak and declare them her guests, Alucard had begun to stare deeply into the clerk's eyes.

"Welcome, Mr. Brenner," the man said breathlessly, a blank smile on his face. "We are pleased to have you here."

Logan sputtered as he was tugged into the hall. "Did you see that? His eyes…all the red…"

Morgan glared at Alucard, who couldn't have been more pleased. Seras expected him to start crowing any second. "You have the mentality of a spoiled child," the witch growled.

"I have a constant need for slaughter and attention," Alucard mimicked meanly, grinning at her with a mouthful of shark-teeth.

"His eyes turned red," Logan continued to stutter, until Seras had to pull him along by his elbow.

_The sexbeam strikes again,_ said the voice, and Seras almost smiled.

They were seated almost instantly, at a table near the back. Their table was round and had two signs on it, resembling place cards. One said 'The Salem Institute' and the other 'The Hellsing Organization'.

"You didn't say who would be attending this dinner, aside from the obvious," Seras whispered to Morgan, resisting the urge to tip the Hellsing sign over. Alucard had settled in a seat directly behind it, with a corner in the wall at his back and his form thrown into shadow.

"Can't you see?" Alucard asked darkly, watching the other guests. "There are very few regular humans here."

He was right. Seras looked around. A few people were milling around tables, but most were just arriving, filing in through the entrance. A few had grouped together and were talking animatedly. Most of them were dressed in black, and they were all pale, with sharp features. Several of them had the sickly sweet smell of a recently sated vampire, but most smelled like nothing. Like ice.

Those who weren't vampires were witches, their blue eyes shining out from the crowd. Some of them had small familiars, which they let out even though there were a small handful of normal people shifting about, which made Seras believe that those humans were savvy to their secrets. One was a woman with red-rimmed eyes, who glared at any passing vampire, even when they tipped their heads to her in recognition.

So she must be the disgruntled widow.

"They have all come to apologize for their brothers," Morgan said softly. "Though I don't know how many of them know that that coven is dead." She shot Alucard a look that should have made him drop dead, but he was too stubborn for that.

There was a sudden scream of utter terror. Logan jumped nearly a foot from his chair as the scream dribbled away into hysterical gibbering.

Seras sagged a little as the room's attention fell on a vampire who was struggling against the hold of his two companions. They murmured into his ear, trying to soothe him, but it was useless. He tugged at their hold and eventually slumped to his knees, moaning quietly. He resembled a child about to receive a vaccination; or a vampire about to face his violent, powerful, and easily provoked king.

"I was wondering when I was going to have to meet these covens." Alucard pushed his glasses up to a higher position on his nose, so they obscured his eyes, and he was grinning like a maniac. "Isn't it amazing how they have the initiative to be organized?"

Seras noticed how the vampires were lining up, which also attracted the curiosity of the other guests. Most of them were plastered to the wall, eyeing their table cautiously, thought some of them had shifted to the center of the room and were talking, sometimes gesturing towards them. "Master, you mustn't provoke them. We're supposed to be finding the head of that Brigade."

"It is not my fault if their guilt shows," Alucard said, still smirking. Even in the darkness of the corner he sat in, his glasses were glowing orange.

Morgan sat down and angrily fiddled with a bowl of peanuts that had been left in the middle of the table. "Do not make these vampires defend themselves, Alucard. This is our only chance of catching the Edgar Brigade leader red-handed. If you can't help yourself and we lose our chance, I will -."

"Will what?" Alucard suddenly sneered, and a few vampires in the room sensed his increased emotion and promptly bit off their tongues to keep themselves from whimpering. "You cannot do anything. _No one_ can do anything."

Seras clenched her eyes shut, but a mantra of _eventually_ had begun to pound at the inside of her skull, tattooing it until she slid into her seat and begged for the shadow, begged for…

_Help me, Pip_, she thought, holding the back of her neck. _I trust master too; I just don't know how much._

_Eventually, girlie – you'll know eventually. _

Fuuuck.

Seras gulped down a lungful of air to clear her head, and by the time she had gotten over her anxiety, a vampire clad in a black band t-shirt had crept closer, coming within ten feet of Alucard. The vampire was barely older than twenty, yet Seras could tell he was at least twice that age by the way he eyed Alucard, carefully not making eye contact and instead looking to Alucard's left.

Alucard let out a low hiss; it was so low that it made Sera's eyelids tingle. The approaching vampire let out a relieved sigh and hurried away.

"What is he doing?" Logan whispered into Seras's ear as more vampires came forward, but they were only met with silence. Some went away looking happy, and others slunk back to their tables, where they were met with growls and harsh glares.

"He's judging them – I think," Seras murmured, though she knew Alucard would know what they were saying even if they had been having a telepathic conversation. "He's looking into their minds and…finding things…"

"What kind of things?" Morgan asked suspiciously as one vampire let out a yelp once Alucard was done with him and went running out of the dining room.

"Things that contradict with the treaties you have," Alucard muttered, looking bored. He pointed to the vampire he was currently judging, propping his chin in his other hand. "That one sneaks into the city morgue and turns corpses, and then she wonders why her fledglings have mental impairments."

Morgan looked at the female vampire, who had gone a dusty white. "Were _you_ turned from a corpse?"

The female let out a wail and went back to her table in shame. A cross-eyed fledgling was there to receive her. They all laughed a little, except for Alucard, who was busy probing the mind of a middle-aged vampire with permanent salt-and-pepper hair.

Seras wished she could continue to laugh forever.

xxx

The oddity of the charity dinner only increased when everyone had arrived. Food had been passed out in dishes of cheap meat and flutes of blood. Alucard had shooed away the rest of the vampires and they had all sat down when there was the crystal tinkling of a fork on glass.

The hall was set up so that there were a multitude of small round tables all scattered in front of one long table, which sat in front of two large windows that took up most of the wall behind it. While they were way in the back, most of the officials were seated at the long table. Whitney was near the center, two spaces from the right of the widow, who was muttering to an elderly man that Seras presumed was her father or father-in-law directly on her left. Near the ends of the table were a few pairs of vampires, each one possibly the leader of one or more covens.

The clinking sound was being made by the man to the direct left of the widow, And Seras could see his big, white smile all the way in the back.

"Who is that?" Seras asked Logan as the man started to make a speech about how glad he was about the vampiric turnout of the dinner.

"The woman's brother-in-law," Logan whispered back, picking at the paper plate of undercooked vegetables and overcooked chicken that the humans and witches had been served, not eating and instead pushing the food around. "He planned this entire thing."

"Is he the leader, master?" Seras asked Alucard, who was watching the proceedings with a sly grin. She could tell that he knew everything already, and was merely watching for the amusement.

"No." Alucard chuckled. "Just watch, Seras. Things are about to get interesting." His grin was a familiar one, set in a hard jaw, with his lips pulled back to an unnatural point, where they almost reached to his ears.

"I'd like to thank everyone for coming tonight," the man said, beaming. "It is humbling to see how many of you have come to support my sister in her time of need. I know it's difficult for so many vampires to gather in such a small space, but we are grateful that you all have put aside your differences and are peacefully together for the moment."

"See Seras?" Alucard smirked. "The skin around his eyes isn't contracting. His smile is fake. He's lying." He swirled the blood in the glass in his hand, and a little sloshed out and dribbled down his hand. Seras knew now that he wasn't wearing gloves, as the blood dripped off his hand instead of disappearing.

Seras knew this, and her blood grew thin and began to pound in her veins. She looked at the untouched glass of blood in front of her and shivered, knowing something was wrong. Their table wasn't the only one that was uneasy, but it was the only one with food that was untouched.

Morgan's eyes grew dark as the man continued with his speech. She gripped the plastic knife she had been given, as if that would save her.

"It is wonderful that you have all acted like decent creatures, but it is too little too late," the brother said, his smile fading. "Winter is coming, and one swift frost is enough to kill off all of you pathetic mosquitoes."

One of the vampires at the long table jerked to his feet and bared his fangs, but they were covered with a film of blood. His partner was coughing roughly, holding his empty glass so tight that it was cracking, and blood was spraying with each heave. It stained the white tablecloth in a fan-like pattern.

Alucard raised his glass to his mouth and deftly dipped his long tongue into it, like a snake scenting prey. "Silver flakes. How clever."

Whitney had not risen in protest like the vampires. She was grinning in her friendly way, and as Seras looked up at her, she took one of the small carrots off her plate and ate it.

She knew.

"What the hell is this about!?" Morgan screamed over the noise of dozens of vampires yelping shrilly as the silver hit their veins and gullets. "Whitney! You said it yourself that the Edgar Brigade was instigating the vampires!"

"That was before I met their _king_," Whitney said, her voice rough and harsh while her face had a smile that went right to her eyes. "I had hoped that this was just young vampires being themselves, and that they would improve with time. But look at the oldest of them all! The most powerful!" She stood, and her voice grew soft as her smile grew insane. "I have given my support to the Edgar Brigade, and expect you to do the same."

"Oh master," Seras whispered. "What have you done?"

"I have done nothing," Alucard said, chuckling darkly as he reached into his coat for the _Casull_. "The_vrăjitoare_ was always mad. In fact…"

There was a loud _bang_, and Seras knew it didn't come from Alucard. It was too soft, for one thing, but it also came from the other side of the room.

The father/father-in-law had pulled out a small handgun and has aimed it at their table. It hit Logan in the arm, making him howl in agony. He fell back into his chair, gritting his teeth and spitting out such a string of curses that Seras wasn't even sure if he was himself anymore.

"Son of a -!" Morgan leapt from her seat and blew into her cupped hands. Seras was wondering what her familiar was going to do when there was a loud screech. Instead of a fluffy lovebird appearing alongside her, a fist-sized creature winked into existence, all red eyes and cruel beak. It flew at the father/father-in-law and aimed for his soft eyes.

Then she pointed at the man with the blindingly white smile and screamed, "_Drink blood!_" The man let out a gurgle as blood poured from his mouth.

Seras touched Logan's arm, making him shudder. The wound was in his forearm, and the bullet had passed clean through, but it was bleeding heavily. He breathed deeply, and weakly raised his hand to his mouth, as if he was about to blow a kiss at the long table.

She briefly remembered that she had never seen Logan's familiar. As the college student blew on his hand and a strange smell filled the air, she wondered why he seemed to have such power in the Institute, though he seemed no older than twenty.

She seemed to come on like the late news sometimes.

There was another gunshot, but the bullet seemed to ricochet off something and Seras could hear it embed itself into the wall behind them.

A humanoid form appeared in front of them, leaping across tables in great jumps and bounds. It was moving so fast that Seras couldn't get a good look at it, but Alucard suddenly vaulted out of his chair and stood in stunned silence, his face slowly forming into a snarl that showed almost all of his teeth. He was making that rasping noise again.

_Our familiars, like yours, come from the dead, except we don't kill them ourselves._

There was an agonized scream as the father/father-in-law clutched at the bloody holes where his eyes had been. Morgan's devil-like familiar twittered happily as it flew around his head, grasping his hair at the base of his skull and whittling away at the back of his neck. It searched for his brain stem. Seras smelled blood and metal cleaner, and it stung her sensitive eyes. The shadow appeared on her good arm, as the other one was shifting and floating of its own accord. It chuckled softly into her ear, reminding her of the hysterical vampire who hadn't wanted to see Alucard.

_Mostly they are animals, but sometimes they are humans._

The widow disappeared in a cloud of blood as she was sliced into hundreds of irregular pieces when the humanoid figure of Logan's familiar leapt onto her table. Seras could taste the name on her tongue, and it burst out in a sudden fit of insanity, mingling with Alucard's howl of rage.

"Walter!"

xxx

I don't think I've ever written such an awesome cliffhanger before. Seriously, amazing cliffy right thar. You know you love it. I've always liked Walter. He's old, and yet he's badass. You can almost hear the BAMF as he walks into a room. Look at that: BAMF. And don't freak too much about the cliffhanger – I've already finished the next chapter (which will be the second to last chapter – I don't think I'm doing to make the last chapter an epilogue, mostly because it includes important plot shit) so it will be up next week. Even sooner if I get bored.

Winter is coming, BITCHES (shot by a Greyjoy). HO SHIT THAT'S DAMPHAIR. Come back you salty, sexy bastard!

I seem to enjoy describing bloody teeth. Oh my. And I totally stole that _drink blood_ spell from a quote by Sarah Good, a woman who was hanged in the Salem witch trials, and a pretty badass woman (though not as badass as Martha Corey and her equally BAMF husband).

Review Responses:

Keaydee: Oh god, you make Pip sound like a Transformer. Best way to describe him evar.

Master of the Boot: I suppose I could branch off with Alucard, but that's what I used to do – I used to make him remotely sane and very sarcastic, as he was in the first few chapters of the manga, but it never felt right. It's nice to develop his character in a plausible way though :D In Hellsing he seemed more mature than Dracula – it's hard to tell through all the blood and insanity, but he is. Dracula had tantrums when Mina was just out of his grasp, but when Alucard is faced with something he wants (namely Integra's ass) and is denied he shrugs it off and knows that he will get another chance. I like that about Hellsing.

GoddesOfWrath: I slept :3 After picking up trash and glass from around a river and doing a tick check that was the best thing ever. Friend: Anyone think we look like monkey's? Kana: (picking shit out from friend's hair) Nah – _found a ladybug!_

Queen Adelia: Elevators are fun at conventions. I was once stuck in one with pedobear, Jesus, Master Chief, the Major, and Gin Ichimaru. It was creepy, especially since the Gin cosplayer never. Stopped. Smiling. And neither did pedobear. And I second that Incognito ick. Which is why I go by the manga! MUCH MORE LULZ. Like the first volume, where people's fingers can be doing WEIRD SHIT, and where Alucard's hair sometimes just DISAPPEARS.

OrisounAsh: Its okay if you don't review all of the time XD I'm guilty of lurking too. I believe I only review one author frequently (we're also friends, I believe). Ugh, that was an icky typo. (Raises fists to the sky) TYPOS! I fixed it though :3 so thanks. And I'm glad I made you giggle. I tend to do that in my stories; as well as describe Alucard in various humorous ways. Sadly in real life my jokes suck hard most of the time – unless my mummy hears them :'D

I feel as if I'm obligated to add to that sentence. "Dracula bites his victims in _other_ places if they ask nicely." _Ba-dum-bum_.

End Responses

AGH I JUST CUT MY FINGERNAILS. I hate short nails. Usually I have to be careful about taking out my contacts because a small twitch can make me lose an eye. But now I can't even type right. Hatehatehatehate.

This chapter was short (short for me; I've been trying to get in seven or eight pages of story a chapter now – I used to only do four or five. The _horror_) but the next chapter is LONG. I'm talking about TEN pages of awesome ASSKICKING. It will also be the second-to-last chapter (counting the epilogue, which will not be an epilogue :O )

Next Chapter: There is swearing and French but no French swearing D:


	6. The Sunlight is Beautiful

This chapter is where I FINALLY figured out what the hell I was doing with this plot. I actually said BOOYA and startled my dogs. This is also where the **ideologically sensitive** material comes into play, which I will apologize for at the end of the chapter, so as not to ruin the BOOYA moment.

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Hellsing I could fly a giant banner over the country that proclaimed my love for _Poison_. D: You know your taste in music is old when your favorite singers are _bleeding from the brain_. Or DEAF. Or walking across a street perpetually with three other stoners. Or dead.

I've always liked Walter. He's just…awesome. His death was one of the sadder ones in Hellsing, and I'm even counting Alucard's 'death'. I'll admit I teared up more for Walter than I did for Alucard - I'm a bad fangirl.

GET READY FOR _EPIC_ ASSKICKING. Seriously, it's _**EPIC**_. So _EPIC_ it can only be said in OBNOXIOUSLY_ CAPITAL __**FONT**__. _

xxx

**Winter Will Come**

**Chapter Five: The Sunlight is Beautiful**

xxx

Logan was bleeding out onto the floor, the blood running from his arm and dripping off his chair as he stared blankly at the ceiling. Morgan's familiar was eating the father/father-in-law, searching for the brain stem of a man who was as good as dead. The man with the white smile was slumped over the table, blood running from his mouth as he struggled to breathe. The widow was in pieces; a Walter-back-from-the-dead creature was standing over her severed head and regarding it as if it was something exceedingly boring. People were screaming. Alucard had vanished. Everything had gone to hell.

Seras's instincts were telling her to suck Logan dry, but instead she knelt in the puddle of his blood on the floor and licked the bullet out of his wound. He groaned and tried to pull away, but she held fast until she clenched a nugget of lead between her teeth. She spat it out onto the floor and bound the wound with a section of the tablecloth, and tried to ignore the flippant French cursing coming from the shadow on her arm. Or was the shadow her arm? Had they become one in the same?

Judging by the pool on the floor, he had lost a dangerous amount of blood in a span of thirty seven seconds. Logan looked at her with eyes that were unfocused.

"There is a man on your shoulder, Seras," he commented, staring at the shadow that clutched at her and whispered dirty songs into her ear now that he was done cursing.

"I know," Seras said softly. She felt Alucard wink back into existence near the Walter-creature and loom down on him. The Walter thing looked at him as if he was also exceedingly boring. "He's French." That seemed like the right thing to say.

Logan blinked at her familiar, and smiled. "That's nice." He closed his eyes, but he continued to breathe steadily.

"Let me see him, Seras," Morgan said, gently moving Seras out of the way and putting her fingers on Logan's neck. Her eyes said nothing.

As the father/father-in-law collapsed, Seras realized that Whitney was gone, leaving Alucard and the Walter-creature as the only 'living' things left at the long table (if you didn't count the brother-in-law, who had developed a glassy look). In fact, there were very few animate people left in the dining hall – most of the witches had fled, and there were few vampires still alive. The leaders of each coven were picking themselves up, though they looked worse for the wear. One of them had a burned esophagus that showed in this neck like a black tube.

Suddenly the Walter-familiar disappeared, and Alucard showed how very disappointed he was by racing over to Logan and holding a gun to his head.

"Bring him back," Alucard growled. If the _Casull_ had had a hammer, he would have pulled it back as a warning.

Logan looked at him woozily. "I don't know why he's mad," he whispered to Morgan, as if the barrel of a gun wasn't creating a red imprint on his forehead.

"Your familiar was a friend of his," Morgan muttered. The demonic Eggshell perched on her shoulder, its beak dripping with blood. She glared up at Alucard. "Do not think that you can bully his familiar into begging for his life. The human ones retain nothing of their former life. Logan's isn't even mature enough to have a personality."

There was a horrible _KABLAM_ and for one terrifying moment Seras thought Alucard had actually killed Logan. She thought for one _ugly_ moment that there would be a ruptured bit of skull where Logan's head had been, dripping blood and brain onto the floor. But Logan's head was intact, albeit his expression a little frightened, and there was a massive hole in the wall behind him.

Alucard was unraveling. The red drained out of him, and he was left wrapped in black. His eyes were the only things left with color, and they were livid, until it all came out in a scream of rage that he preformed right in Logan's face. It sounded more like an animal dying, and Alucard vanished.

Logan giggled hysterically. "His breath smelled like death."

Her hands dripping blood, Morgan threw them up into the air. Blood dripped onto her temple from above. "This is a disaster," she observed, "We were supposed to capture the leader of that _fucking_ brigade, and now we can't even do that – all because your master had a tantrum over Logan's familiar."

Seras snapped. All of the fear that had been building up inside of her, all of the distrust and the fucking_ eventually_, came out in one giant rant. It was like popping a cork off of a champagne bottle, and she could almost feel the bubbly words spew from her mouth.

"_Stop_ blaming everything on Master!" Seras shrieked, actually_ stamping_ her foot as Morgan stepped back a little. "_Everyone_ keeps blaming things on my master just because he's not mollifying everything! This is just as much _your_ leader's fault for being a nutter! And just as much _your_ fault for not telling us about Logan's familiar! He doesn't know how to handle all of this _maturity_!" The last bit came out accidentally, as if a speaking demon had taken control of her mouth.

In the silence that followed, there was the faint sound of applause. Seras looked to her arm and saw Pip, his braid looped around his neck, his slouch hat slipping off over his eye patch, and his smile wide and so real she could almost remember the blood that had coated his teeth. He still had a bandage across the bridge of his nose. His hands made clear, sharp claps. There wasn't a shadow on him.

_You didn't think that I would stay in the mansion, did you?_ He laughed and only Seras could hear or see him. Slowly, Pip faded away, but Seras could still feel him there. _That Sir Integra wouldn't stop talking to the walls until I left – I never got aaaaany sleep. _

Seras rubbed her forehead as Morgan got over her outburst, shook it off, and began to wipe up the area around Logan's injury. "I'm sorry…I just – I've been having a rough day."

"Looks like it," Logan said woozily, leaning forward in his chair. To keep him from sliding onto the floor, Seras grabbed his good arm – the one with the band that all Salem Institute witches wore when they felt like being formal. The silver symbol stitched into the dark blue wool was familiar and vaguely menacing.

Seras stared intently at the symbol, until she blurted out, "Who started the Institute?"

Morgan stopped cleaning Logan's wound and looked up at her with a face that had suddenly gone pale. "Whitney's uncle."

The Draculina began to pull out threads in the armband. "Where did he come from?" Silver began to trickle out between her fingers.

"Europe."

"When?"

"The turn of the century." Thirty years ago. Horror leaked into Morgan's voice as she -

"And what is the symbol of your Institute?"

"The solar cross."

"I'm going to borrow this for a minute," Seras whispered to Logan, who let out a low keening sound. She was sure he was okay with it, so she took the ruined armband and held up her handy-work for Morgan to see.

Seras had changed the solar symbol into a rounded swastika.

"You know…" Seras threw the armband onto the table, where it mingled with poisoned carrots. "This will be the third time that these bastards have tried to take over the world with vampires. You'd think they'd learn."

xxx

"I'm not going to try to understand this freakish connection you have with the sponge," Morgan said as Seras opened the doors to a building, streaking through the foyer and making the rubber in her boots squeal. "But are you sure he's here?"

"He has to be," Seras breathed, looking down two hallways before settling on a third and bolting down it, nearly jumping off the walls. When she looked over her shoulder and saw Morgan trailing behind she added, "Why don't you go and stay with Logan? I don't want you getting hurt! Who knows what -!"

Morgan moved just as quickly, with magic turning the heels of her shoes red. She grabbed at Seras's forearm, and the vampire let the witch pull her aside. "Look," Morgan gasped for air, still dignified even with sweat plastering her curls to her eyelids. "Logan is in the hospital because of what Whitney has done. She didn't stop her…her _coworker _from shooting at my – at my _son._" Her light blue eyes were practically white from exhaustion. Her pupils had contracted to pinpoints, and they stabbed at Seras. "I want to help you bring down that bitch," she finally snarled.

Seras felt the pressure of Morgan desperately squeezing her arm. "Alright," she said quietly, putting a soothing hand on Morgan's. "But you must promise me you won't do anything stupid."

A scoff. "Do I look like the type to charge in and perform heroics when there is a perfectly good idiot sitting in that room that will do it for me and not get killed?" Morgan almost laughed to break the tension, but instead she was left frowning with her lips parted slightly.

"Yeah…" Seras nudged the room's door open, half expecting to see Alucard and the seventeen bodies he had created in his madness.

Instead a lecture hall was before them, with thirty students listening to a female professor dictate to them a book about the Cold War. The hall contained a lovely view of the River from the four large window panes that were to their right. Several students in the back looked over their shoulder at the two bloody people who had just sneaked into the back of the classroom. But they soon grew bored of watching them and turned back.

"You know, if this class had been based on a subject fifteen years earlier this would contain some _extreme_ irony," Morgan deadpanned as Seras took a few steps into the room, scanning for her master. "Face it, Seras; Alucard could be doing _anything_ right now instead of listening to _this_ drivel." The professor at the front of the room shot Morgan a dirty look without breaking stride in her lecture.

"But…" Seras put a hand to her neck, feeling the puckered scars that throbbed now that she was in the lecture hall. "He _has_ to be here. He _always_ is."

Alucard was there. He just wasn't in the room.

Yet.

There was a sudden scream from one of the students near the windows, and then the sound of glass shattering. A flurry of bodies appeared in the gaping hole that was all that was left of the window, and skidded across the front of the room, leaving a trail of glistening blood. The professor shrieked and launched herself over her desk in a display of acrobatics that Seras wouldn't have thought would come from a fifty year old woman.

Seras could pick out three people in the fight that was making college students flood for the doors. Two of them were strange vampires, mostly teeth and scathing vocabularies. They bit and tore at the familiar form of Alucard, who was red even though he was clothed in black. His hair was long and dripping with blood, and Seras could tell that most of it wasn't his.

Alucard gritted his teeth and snarled when one of the vampires on him sank its teeth into his forearm.

Biting her lip, Seras called out when Alucard didn't immediately shoot and/or eat the two vampires. "Kill them, Master!" she said, words that bubbled up and choked her.

As if her words rejuvenated him, Alucard took the vampire that was biting him, clutching the thing's head in one hand, and dashed its head against the floor. Its head exploded like ripe fruit and its brain sprayed out in a sun pattern that parodied their situation. The other one was on his back, trying to bite at his neck, and he ripped it off and slammed it three times into the floor, until it ooze grey matter out of its shattered skull.

Seras and Morgan stopped halfway down the stairs to the head of the room as Alucard stood up, so soaked in blood that it pooled at his feet and seemed as if it would never stop spreading. He rubbed at his face, as if the blood ran into his eyes, and licked the blood that came off on his palm. Then he looked at the window, at the moon and the night and the city's skyline, and for a moment it seemed as if he was about to perform an encore of his Rio speech.

But he didn't as quickly as he came, Alucard dissolved into a flurry of bats and flew out of the window. One bat got itself impaled on a jagged shard of glass and melted into a puddle of blood on the floor. The blood formed itself into a word; _Ouch_.

"At least he has a sense of humor," Morgan commented as Seras dragged her towards the window. "Seras, I know that you love your master and all, but I think he's – what the _fuck are you doing_!?"

Still holding onto Morgan with her normal arm, Seras jumped out of the window. Morgan began to scream and cling to Seras even when the Draculina snapped out her shadows and began to flap.

Morgan buried her face in Seras's side as they flew over the River. "You never said you could fly. I thought…oh God I thought…"

"Master passed on his sense of humor to me," Seras said cheerily.

Alucard was a black cloud on the horizon that Seras followed diligently. Her 'wing' beats were a little off, and she and Morgan often banged against each other, and someone's chin was always jarring against someone's head, or someone had an elbow in another's cheek.

"Where is he going?" Morgan asked, holding onto Seras's shirt. She had been steadily slipping down, until she was face to face with Seras's hip.

_Move to the left, sweetheart,_ Pip crooned from where he had wrapped his arms around Seras's neck, dangling down her back like a cape. The end of his braid tickled her nose. He snickered when Seras glared at him.

"The coast, I think" Seras said. The moonlight was glittering on normally steel water up ahead of them, and she could see a long pale strip of sand.

"Why the hell would he be going there?" Morgan began to slip some more until Pip reached out a transparent hand. His glove and lower arm turned blackish and shadowlike as he hiked Morgan up by the back of her shirt, and went back to 'normal' when he took his hand away. "Thanks Seras."

Seras heard Pip chuckle in her ear, as if he knew the answer to a joke that she didn't.

xxx

"I feel like we've been here before…" Seras commented as she looked at the ocean. She knew that they had been on the beach before, but could Alucard have really…?

"We have." Morgan bent down and lifted up a handful of sand. Underneath the first few inches there was a layer of pink. "This is where Alucard destroyed that coven." She straightened and stood, sand sticking to her sweaty palms. "Can you sense him?"

Standing in the sand, with salt water tugging at her and making her sick, Seras felt around for the strong presence of her master. She _could _feel him nearby, a pulsing source of power and (ironically) heat.

"Master?" she called out, stepping into the field of beach grass. The long blades brushed against her bare arms as if welcoming her back into their midst, grabbing at her elbows, trying to make her stay. "Master?"

Seras looked down when her shoes started to make wet noises, as if she was stepping in…

Blood.

Lying on the ground was a pale, pathetic creature, whining with each of its desperate, strangled breathes. They clutched at the giant hole in their side, holding it as blood ran through their fingers and pooled underneath them. Blood dribbled from between their lips, and Seras thought they might be crying.

In between gasps for breath, the creature was murmuring to itself of the horrors it had seen.

The bullet wound was obviously Alucard's work, but where was he? More importantly – why had he missed the head or the heart?

"Seras!" Morgan grabbed the back of Seras's uniform, tugging her backwards. "Look out!"

There was a hellish screaming, and from the depths of the beach grass came a baboon.

Whitney's familiar had changed more drastically than Morgan's. The baboon's teeth had become ridiculously deadly, its tongue long and bright pink as it hung between them. Its eyes were larger and bright blue, flickering like fire, and its fur drifted like graying smoke. It reached out eerily human hands that ended with sharp nails as it lunged for Seras. Its canines dripped with blood and magic the color of Whitney's teal eyes.

Seras put up her arms to try and ward away the screaming monster, but something black darted in front of her, shooting at the baboon. The creature dodged the bullets with horrifying speed and latched onto the defender's neck, biting and tearing away chunks of flesh. A high keening rose over all of the ruckus, the sound spreading its wings in the night.

Morgan roared over all of the commotion, telling Seras to stay with her, but had to let go of Seras's uniform when the Draculina struggled to help her master; Seras called to him. "What are you doing!?"

Alucard would have answered back with something snarky, but the only thing left of his throat was the tragically thin column of his spine an a few chunks of flesh. Ridiculous amounts of blood ran down his front, melting in with the blackness that covered him like a suit. His fingers were like claws, ripping at the baboon's face, ripping out chunks of bloody fur and skin, exposed muscle stretching and gleaming in the moonlight. Even without his vocal cords he was making ethereal growls, which came from his shadows.

They sounded less like a canine's growl and more like a…feline's.

Stretching from the blackness on his back came the body of something, cut off at the torso. The face of a young boy appeared in the shadows, his mouth stretched in a fanged grin too big for his face; it was a smile made of the blackest evil. A dagger was sticking out of his neck, reading _meine ehre heißt treue_ in letters that were in constant motion. His body was like a proud testament to Nazi colors, swirling with red and black veins.

With swift, fluid movements, Alucard stepped back just as the familiar pulled the dagger out of his neck. The creature leaned forward and slashed at the baboon, making it rear back and let out a scream of rage. Alucard shrieked right back, like he was fighting for dominance and not his un-life, and his familiar lashed out again. The nosferatu began to make guttural grunts as his throat filled out.

"What the _fuck_ is that?" Morgan whispered, hugging herself slightly as the fight played out in front of them. Seras knew better than to jump into one of Alucard's fights, but she fidgeted next to the witch anyway, wishing once more for a gun.

"He really did kill them all," Seras breathed, staring wide-eyed at the familiar that cackled out of its mangled neck just as Alucard did the same. It was like a match made in hell.

With twin stabbing motions, Alucard gouged out a hole in the baboon's chest just as his familiar stuck its dagger into one of its unnatural eyes. The thing fell limp and crumbled to shining dust.

"Oh God," Morgan gasped. "Oh God. Oh – oh no. He killed it." She was babbling in an obscenely out of character way, clutching at Seras desperately. "He killed a familiar. Whitney is going to -."

"_Regarder dehors! BEHIND YOU!"_

Seras had never heard Pip scream so loud (at least, not in the last thirty years). She whipped around as Morgan threw up a barrier of magic that shattered as their assailant slammed through it. Morgan let out an angered shriek and flung out one of her arms in front of Seras to ward off the attacker just as Pip melted into thick shadows, spread out under the beach grass.

There was an awful _shick_ sound as a blade of magic cut off Morgan's arm at the elbow. The witch turned so pale she was nearly blue and tried to put up another barrier, but it was a feeble thing that swam and shimmered like heat on black tar.

The attacker drew back into the darkness as Seras gently caught Morgan as the witch's knees buckled. Though the vampire knew there was going to be another assault in a few seconds, she took her time settling Morgan into the beach grass.

"Pip, come here." She beckoned for the mercenary with an arm, and a section of her shadows formed into a blanket that draped over Morgan, though she continued to struggled weakly, reaching out her good arm for Seras. "I know the feeling," Seras commented. "Luckily you're not going to die like I was."

"You say that now," Morgan whispered, chuckling. She was able to grab Seras's shirt and force her down. "Whitney's gone mad," she hissed.

"I kn – "

Seras was unable to finished the last syllable, as something unseen slammed into her, knocking her from Morgan's side and throwing her into a cluster of grass. The former police girl tumbled, grass hissing all around her, her head buzzing from the impact.

Whitney was on top of her, gouging out ribbons of her flesh with manicured nails. The moon was behind her, throwing her into profile, making the changes brought on by her madness even more noticeable. For one moment she threw her head back, her hair flying in the air, her smile full of insanity and delight. Her eyes swam, the irises swirling unpleasantly and bleeding into the white. The expression was so natural on her, that if Seras didn't know better, she could have sworn she had always looked like that.

Drawing back her arm, Whitney attempted to burn Seras's face with a globe of magic that formed between her fingers. The police girl lurched up like a snake, sinking her fangs into Whitney's face, tearing off a cheek. The witch howled with pain, her teeth and gums moving underneath her mangled face.

The witch reached out once more, easily holding down the struggling Seras with only one arm. The magic came close enough to make Seras's pupils shrink, until a gunshot blew off Whitney's hand, splattering the police girl's face with blood. A sliver of bone scratched her forehead and the witch rounded on the shooter.

Whitney recoiled back just in time to avoid getting her head lopped off by a longsword.

Seras tried to see more of what was going on, but the extreme light from the magic has caused spots to appear in front of her eyes, and she was distracted when Morgan let out a strangled grunt of pain. Whipping around, the Draculina saw another vampire crouching over Morgan, licking at the stump of her arm. The witch was glaring at him as if she was going to make him spontaneously combust – which she would have done if she wasn't so out of it. The vampire giggled at her discomfort and began to gnaw on her severed arm.

A '_mor' _sound came out of Seras's throat. She rubbed the spots from her eyes and bolted for the witch, knowing that if the vampire bit her Morgan would become a ghoul. With her shadows rearing up around the vampire and witch, she prepared to –

_I just can't catch a break_, Seras thought as two other vampires appeared out of the grass, both of them fierce and powerful, as they didn't carry any weapons to supplement themselves.

One of the vampires made a move to strike out at her with a clawed hand, but he stopped short suddenly. His eyes were wide as his head slid from a perfectly clean cut that severed his neck. His companion's demise was the same way. They made individual _thump_ noises as their bodies hit the ground, the beach grass swallowing them up.

A black form darted out from the tree line, making for Morgan. Silver glinted in the moonlight as the vampire who was making a snack out of Morgan's detached arm exploded into a cloud of blood and flying limbs. Vampires continued to appear out of no where, but they didn't get within ten feet of Morgan. A short wall of bodies began to form around her.

"Seras!" Morgan's call was weak, but it carried over the sound of bodies rustling against the dry grass. She sat up in the grass with the help of her protector, who grabbed her good arm with an expression of disinterest on his face. "Seras! You can't kill Whitney!"

"Why not!?" Seras shouted back. The field had gone from being a slightly dangerous tick-infested place, to an area where the smell of blood was saturated into the earth, staining everything red under the moon. "Master seems to be doing a fine job of it!"

Morgan leaned against Walter, who still found everything boring. She took a slow breath before saying, "Because when witches die we release -."

A wail pierced the night as well as a scream of triumph. As soon as the two sounds died away, there was a ghastly tearing sound, and Seras looked over her shoulder in time to see the image of Alucard stabbing upward with his greatsword, splitting Whitney's skull from chin to crown. His eyes were wide with shock though as Whitney's body broke out into death throes that were all too violent from someone who had died instantaneously.

With an all-consuming roar, a massive plume of ugly teal magic exploded outward from Whitney's corpse and engulfed Alucard.

At first Seras didn't think anything of it. Her master had been consumed in flames before and had survived (even magical ones), so Seras chose to help Morgan instead. She propped the witch up and took her from the Walter-creature, wrapping her in shadows to keep her warm and safe from all the blood. Pip helped seal her wound by covering it with his hand, which molded to fit the stump like liquid. He smiled amiably at Morgan when she blinked at him, baffled.

"A friend of yours?" she asked, her voice slightly muffled by pain.

"Kind of." Seras grinned. She looked at the Walter-familiar and saw him almost smile, his forever young face twitching ever so slightly. Then he faded into the night, shrugging at her with his emotionless face.

Seras got all the way to the hospital before she realized it. Just as the nurses were wheeling Morgan away, who was insisting on a certain doctor that was a witch and would therefore keep quiet, Seras noticed that Alucard hadn't returned with them, to check up on his fledgling or to even gloat over Morgan or poke fun at her predicament.

Alucard had vanished.

xxx

This chapter was originally going to be split into two, but they would have been too short for my liking, so I…didn't :D. And I totally added a _Dark Tower_ reference in there somewhere. I've read so much Stephen King lately that I'm starting to see afterimages of it o.o

I love the solar cross. I even have an Irish high cross in my room because my nana has like…seven of them. I don't mean to insult anyone's religion. Don't hate me. Blame the Nazis for taking symbols that weren't theirs and fucking with them.

Review Responses: It feels like I haven't updated in forever

GoddesOfWrath: 'Course she's talking about Alucard. He _is_ the No-Life King.

Queen Adelia: Once we were trying to get to the pool in a hotel that was having construction done, and we got stuck in this very Resident Evil-looking staircase. My friend opened a door that was supposed to lead to another floor and all we saw was darkness and saws. We now refer to it as the 'Staircase from Hell'.

Master of the Boot: Wow – that was a kick in the proverbial balls. But that's good. I'm glad that my cliffhanger kept you going. :3

Keaydee: o.o there ARE quite a few badass butlers in fiction. OMFG that's amazing.

End Responses

My iPod says I've listened to a certain Billy Joel song thirty seven times. Well damn. Now there is only one more chapter left (which should be the epilogue but it's gonna be too long for that). My god this was a quick story.

I better get this up quick - its thundering quite close to where we are, but its hard to tell because its daylight and the lightning is hard to - HOLY SHIT THAT WAS CLOSE. And now its raining hard. Better get off the computer XD


	7. Home Again

Have you ever come back to your college dorm (Salem State University of all places; if the irony didn't hit you smack in the face, I envy you) at ten at night after seeing a play, so hungry that you would have eaten your posters? Except you didn't have anything except a box of triscuits and a jar of nutella?

So I finished my box of nutella and stale-ass crackers, and was like _holy __shit __I__ should__ totally__ write__ some __fanfic __because __I__'__m__ feelin__' __nostalgic __and__ stuff.__ Also __I__ should __stop__ being__ a__ douche._

It was more complicated than that, but that's what I felt now. And stuff. Luckily my writing style hasn't changed much – it's just gotten weirder – so I can just jump right back in and _ew_, I had no fucking idea how to write horror. _God I suck._

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Hellsing. Also, your goddamn _face_.

I don't even know what the fuck I was going to name this chapter._** I**__** suck**_. Most of my absence can be explained by the fact that I lost my notes for it, and then stopped writing fanfic for so long that now it's really, _really_ weird to write with other people's characters. But Alucard is probably one of the most fun characters _ever_ to write, so I wanted to get back into it because with my original stuff I have to be logical and make sense and _ew,_ that's too hard right now let's write about blood and guts.

Still don't have my notes. Writing by the seat of my pants it is!

EDIT: FF . NET. ARE YOU STICKING ALL MY ITALICIZED WORDS TOGETHER? STOPPIT AND GO MAKE ME A SAMMICH.

xxx

**Winter Will Come**

**Epilogue: ****Home**** Again**

xxx

When Seras stepped out of the airport, she noticed that it had begun to snow. The entire city had taken on a much lighter tone – suddenly the sharp steel of the buildings had been blunted by the weather, forcibly turned soft and gentle and white. She took a deep, unnecessary breath, feeling the cold sting her dead lungs, and grinned. There was barely any salt in the air; there were no cries of gulls or the soft hiss of waves.

It felt like home again.

There were several taxis dropping off their passengers in front of the airport when Seras stepped out into the snow. She picked one near the end, knowing most of the other people would rather squabble over the closer ones, to ensure the least amount of walking with their luggage as possible. Seras had no luggage – the two coffins were being picked up by Hellsing officials, but she didn't want to wait so long to tell Integra about Alucard. She jogged briskly over to the cab, the thin layer of snow turning a simple task difficult.

The cabbie gave her a tired smile in the rearview mirror when she slid into the backseat, her feet tingling. They seemed to say, _You__ have __been __sitting__ for__ six __hours,__ and__ now_ more _sitting?_ Seras gave her toes a wiggle, promising them she would run all the way from the street up to the mansion, if only they would put off going to sleep for another twenty minutes.

"Where to?" the driver asked, and she told him. Seras almost missed the accent of her last driver, who had chatted with her while driving her back to Logan Airport. She hadn't said much back, thinking too much about the last time she had been at Logan and of her master being held up for carrying guns.

Alucard hadn't been seen since destroying Whitney. At first Seras had thought he had simply returned to the dorm to recover from the fire, but when he didn't appear from his room the next night, she had gone in and looked into his coffin and found it empty. Morgan said he was dead, but when they brought in Whitney's remains, there had been nothing to suggest that Alucard's ashes were among Whitney's. Seras had searched the beach grass for anything that suggested Alucard had burned to ash.

"_He__ was__ so__ old,__ Seras,__ he__ probably__ blew__ away __in__ the__ wind.__"_ Morgan's stump was healing well, and she was probably home by now, or in physical therapy. Or caring for Logan, who was doing well too, but needed a little more time to recover from the blood loss and the magical backlash of releasing an underdeveloped familiar for so long, and so far away.

_But__ she__ doesn__'__t__ know,_ Seras thought, leaning her head against the cold window. _The__ last __time __he __turned__ to__ nothing, __he __left__ a__ seal.__ We__ had __something__ left.__ He__'__s__ somewhere_. Down on the floor of the backseat, a shadow appeared, its smile mouthing the word _plotting_. Then _eventually_.

Seras hoped Alucard wasn't still in America. The things he could _eventually__ plot_ there were inconceivable.

"Did you have a long flight, miss?" the driver asked, giving her haggard body a quick look from the rearview mirror.

"It was a little rough." The Salem Institute had made her travel arrangements this time, except they had said that she was a grieving family member of the two bodies in the coffins, instead of actually saying that she _was_ one of the corpses. So she had had to travel across running water without the benefit of being her coffin. She was old enough to do it, but not old enough to stop the constant nausea and the inability to sit still. Seras worked up a smile for the driver to negate her pale complexion.

"I'm just happy to be home," she added after a short pause.

xxx

Seras had told the cabbie the address of a little house a mile or so from the Hellsing estate. The house's residents watched her from their windows, their eyes curious. For years they had had cabs drop strange people onto the sidewalk in front of their house. Their parents talked of the nights they saw fire on the horizon. Their children saw it as a right of passage to see how close they could get to the strange mansion. Seras waved at them as she got out of the cab and they hid again.

She paid the driver and hid an extra two pounds in the coins she dropped into his hand. The estate was only a short run away, one that she could do without breaking a sweat. But, while she knew she had to tell Sir Integra about Alucard possibly being loose in America with plans to burn the world down, she didn't want to do it so _soon._

So instead she walked through the woods, as slow as a human talking a walk on a nice, crisp winter evening, and thought about what she was going to say to Integra.

On the plane, despite the fact that her heels had dug into the floor because of the constant pins and needles, Seras had gone over everything that had happened. The Salem Institute had indeed been set up by a former Nazi, except somewhere down the line the need to take over the world with vampires had turned into a hatred for vampires and the need to destroy them all. Whitney had possibly been the actual head of the Edgar Brigade, but no one had the motivation to check now that every high-ranking member had been killed in one way or another. Seras knew the whole thing was fishy and it was probably going to come back to bite them with a _fourth_ attempt at something disastrous by someone connected in some way to Millennium, but she had been tired and depressed about her master's disappearance.

But Seras hadn't been able to think of a way to tell Integra that Alucard was either dead, or had run away, fed up with doing missions for a master that he was no longer really bound to.

The mansion's walls started to appear between the trees far sooner than Seras wanted them too. She hadn't even begun to think of what to say, and had simply spent the entire time worrying. Productively. She had gone into a small trance, and there were snowflakes on her eyelashes, which she blinked away.

The guards at the gate welcomed her back, and neither of them asked where Alucard was. They looked relieved to not have to deal with the other vampire.

_I__'__ll__ just__ go__ in__ and__ tell__ her_, Seras thought, even though it was harder than it sounded. Should she ease Integra into it? No, better tell her right away, any other way would be insulting.

In the mansion, the halls stretched on forever, familiar and foreboding at the same time. The feeling of being home again was being overshadowed by the feeling of losing Alucard again. Seras had thought that, after the first time, it wouldn't be so bad. But now it was worse; up until she saw the empty coffin, Seras had thought he was simply sleeping off his injuries.

Instead of taunting or teasing her, Pip slid out of her arm and disappeared into the walls.

"What, no ominous _eventually?_" she asked the wallpaper, raising her hands and wiggling her fingers.

_No,__ I__ think __I__'__m __good_. There was a chuckle; a painting shook. Seras gave the wall a gentle kick and continued up to Integra's office.

Strangely, opening the door to Integra's office was easy. She didn't hesitate, grabbing the door handle and pushing it down with the heel of her hand. It was automatic. But then, when she stepped into the office, seeing Integra sitting in her chair, a small ceramic lamp casting a warm glow over the book in front of her. Integra looked up when Seras came in and gave her a smile.

Seras should have noticed something right then, and she kind of did. Sir Integra never smiled so easily. But Seras shook it off as Integra being glad to see her and Alucard; except there was no Alucard.

"Seras –," she began, triggering all of the worry and fear and sadness to pour out of the Draculina.

"I'm sorry Sir Integra," Seras said softly, unable to look up from her shoes. "Alucard's disappeared and he might be dead but he might be planning to take over Washington and attempt world domination. We might need to call Morgan and tell her so she and her witches can prepare in case it happens. And I should have told you sooner that I suspected Alucard of thinking about defecting and -." Her voice has steadily risen until it was almost a cry, and Integra had to put a finger to her lips to make her quiet again. "But…"

"I don't think Alucard will appreciate you talking about him like he's in the room," she said, her smile becoming a smirk. After a moment of Seras staring at her, too stunned to speak, Integra pointed to the wall next to the door.

Alucard was sleeping on his back on the hard couch Integra had always kept for company. He was in full battle armor, as he had been while fighting Whitney, with his broadsword on the floor beside him, a dangling arm still grasping it loosely. His hair pooled on the floor, the ends singed and jagged but the rest of it healthy. Seras could see a few pink burns on his neck and under his chin, where the skin was a little thin from a baboon's attack, but his face was devoid of any scaring and his beard and moustache were thick.

"He came back…" Seras walked over slowly and looked down. Alucard's face looked immeasurably tired, with lines under his eyes. He breathed.

Looking at her book again, Integra said, "He came home a few nights ago, burnt to hell. He's gotten blood on that couch for the umpteenth time. Seras, are you crying?"

Seras was. But she was smiling as well.

xxx

I was _so __close_ to finishing this in a single month, and then a weird sequence of events completely fucked me up and dragged this on for nearly two years. I never forgot about it though, and you all have _no __idea_ how happy I am to finish it because every time I thought about it I was all _guilty_ and shit.

Queen Adelia is to thank for this, in part. She made me feel guilty to the point where I forced my ass to write. Except that sucked and I ignored everything until today. I watched a Hellsing OVA and now I'm _back,__**bitches**_. I've new story ideas and everything. I'm going to remake an old OC Hellsing story (not the one with Willow), because I find it easier working with OCs than straight Hellsing characters. And then a one shot that's a _secret_.

Review Responses: This is kind of like awkwardly meeting someone you haven't seen in years and of course you need to give them back their spoon. Sorry guys, have your spoons back.

MissSexyRain: I loved the idea of Alucard having Schrodinger as a familiar, like his hellhound, where he could come out his back and shit. Except to me it was less cute and dangerous and more _deliciously __evil_.

Queen Adelia: Gimme a hug through the internet, gurl. Except you might not want to, because my writing had gotten _significantly_ more creepy. And I was busy, but not enough to warrant not updating. I had such a hard time for a while; I've written so much with my original characters lately, it's hard to write fanfic. Its creepy. But lately I've had a bit of a block with my own fiction, and I'm finding it easier to write with Alucard, because oh god.

_Oh__ god __it__'__s__ terribly __fun_.

I didn't forget anyone though. Always thought of you, darling ;D Now isn't that endearingly horrifying?

Master of the Boot: A year and a half ago, I may have laughed because I so totally knew I was bringing Alucard back. I am a horrible person but I hope you'll forgive me 8D Next time I promise Alucard will be less of a babby. Actually, I think that's impossible, _but__ dammit__ I__ will__ try_.

Aldedron: I hope you're still eager after a year :/

End responses

Bitches let's put this thang up and blow everyone's minds.

Also, if anyone is coming to Salem for Halloween, I will be here, dressed up as Diamonds Droog from Homestuck (which I will not be writing about, don't worry. Strictly Hellsing for me). I will be happy to show you around this lovely city and and help you stay safe, just send a PM my way.


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